20 Kythorn 1491

Session 9, 12/11/2021

For the sake of continuity, I feel I must take a moment to note that I have taken over keep this log of events. As noted in the previous entry, the original author of this journal perished the night before in a horrible trap. I was given this journal as a way to quickly get caught up with the groups progress and feel it will be an excellent way to keep track of the rest of the groups progress. Not only to be able to report in detail everything to the Temple, but perhaps to provide a sense of closure to Lormin‘s family back home in knowing that his death was not in vain.

I have been in the Larondell area for the past few weeks on sabbatical from the temple attending to guild business, when the temple contacted me and instructed me to assist in the on going investigations. Per those instructions I was to make contact with the group at the Roc’s Nest as soon as possible.

I met up with the group early on the morning of the 20th. Between the descriptions I had received and the way they stuck out of the crowd they were pretty easy to identify. I was somewhat surprised that there were only 3 people present, but thought the others would be joining use shortly.

I was wrong.

Ysildea let me know the other’s would not be joining, but offered no explanation. Then she tossed me this journal and told me to get caught up, so I quickly got to work doing so. It was only later that I learned what had befallen Lormin and I recorded those events as best as I understood them. I was relieved to find out Jerry Beard was only incapacitated, and nothing so dire had happened to him.

While I was doing my best to read through the notes, a Gideon Graymantle came into the common room. From his conversation with the Gharrus Khorvin, it sounded like he had been working late on several nights recently, including last night. When he headed up to his room, Ysildea called him over to ask him some questions. From my reviewing of the notes, he is a lawyer from outside of town working on a property case, but they believe he is tied to the Recent Murder at the Gilded Pegasus Restaurant.

Ysildea must have used some sort of power to coerce or influence the man, as he was much more forthcoming than I would have expected him to be. He said that he knew for a fact that the person who attacked the magistrate and who killed Lukas Wynter were not the same person. He also claimed to have been present at the Gilded Pegasus on the night of the murder. He said he was currently trying to find Jayla Floren and once done, his case would be resolved.

Based on the evidence previously gathered and the answers he gave, it became apparent that he was likely a werewolf, and that he had perhaps passed that affliction on to Jayla. He then tried to end the conversation and leave, at which point I asked him if he had alerted Constable Hawthorne yet that he was present at the murder. As the constable had said there had been no witnesses.

Gideon got a bit concerned at that point and Ysildea gave him a 24 hour deadline to talk to the constable or we would. He said he would be done and out of town by then. Ysildea said if he had any more issues, she would be sleeping in the common room of the inn tonight.

So yeah, she invited a werewolf to visit her that night.

After Gideon left I continued to get caught up on the notes while the group discussed the plans for the day and ate breakfast. While doing so one of the locals approached Maranda Khul to try his luck. Apparently a common occurrence in the Roc’s Nest.

What was not common is what happened next. Apparently Ysildea used her abilities to alter the outcome of the game in the local’s favor. Not so much that they would hit the jackpot, but enough so that they would not loose the house they had put up as collateral. After he won, the guy walked away talking about a winning streak and how he would be back tomorrow. Ysildea then whispered him a message directly claiming to be the voice of Tyr and saying he would be cursed if he gambled again.

So, in the course of an hour she was dismissive of the recent (by hours) death of a companion, invited a werewolf to visit her bed that night and prevented an idiot from loosing his house and putting his family on the streets.

At this point a Professor Jervis Mirrakle joined the common room and Evelios Liriel decided he would approach him and ask about any silvered weapons he might have in preparation for that evening visit by Gideon Graymantle. The professor did not have any himself, but recommended a local blacksmith, The Sullen Dwarf. I was a little taken back by the name, as I was not aware of a registered guild smith in the area, but was heartened anyways at the possibility of meeting a fellow craftsman.

So, it was decided, we would drop some food off at the safe house for Jerry, stop by the blacksmith and then head back out to the cemetery to continue the investigation in the daylight.

Upon arriving at The Sullen Dwarf I was surprised to be greeted by an elf of all things. Imagine that, I thought, the proprietor has actually gone and hired an elf. Truly an act of charity. If only that had been true. Sadly, it seems that Filvendor is actually the owner and smith at the Sullen Dwarf. I did peruse the goods on offer, and although they generally appeared serviceable, there is no way I would trust his wares in actual combat.

That being said, Evelios Liriel was in need of the silvered weapons and felt comfortable in placing his order. He paid extra to have them delivered to the Roc’s Nest by the end of the day. He also purchased 4 shovels in case we would need them at the Cemetery. I wouldn’t use them for any serious digging, but I’m sure there is a pile of crap somewhere that needs to be moved.

So, with our second rate shovels in tow, we proceeded to the town cemetery. In broad daylight. All carrying shovels we had just publicly bought. Not suspicious at all.

First thing upon arriving, we inspected the statue in the middle of the cemetery. Last night in the dark they had not been able to get a good look at it. The statue was of a human male, perhaps a wizard, holding a wand in one hand and an open tome in the other.

Of bigger note, the statue appeared to be broken or fractured. Looking closely, the statue was actually hollow. With the inside covered in runes etched in silver. Ysildea stated she thought they were necromantic in nature, but was unsure of their exact purpose.

Next we returned to the larger crypt they had been investigating last night when Jerry Beard was struck silent. They wanted to give everything a closer look, since they had been cut short by what happened. A closer examination revealed no more clues.

There were quite a few crypts left, so with no obvious reason to pick any of them, it was decided to just proceed counter clockwise from the larger crypt. Evelios Liriel inspected the door for traps and found none, so Ysildea mage handed the door open. The interior seemed mostly like the other smaller crypts but instead of a sarcophagus in the upper floor this crypt had a statue of a human male standing just inside the door.

Evelios decided to go in first. As he crossed the threshold, the statue spoke and said “Knock, Knock”. This alarmed Evelios and he leaped back out the door. After several minutes passed and nothing happened, he again stepped into the crypt. The statue repeated, “Knock, Knock”. Evelios replied “Who’s there”. The statue replied “Interrupting trap”. At this point, Evelios again jumped back out the door. And, again, after several minutes of nothing happening, Evelios entered the crypt. This time, when the statue said “Knock, Knock”, Evelios simply moved past the statue. After nothing happened, Evelios waved us in and said to just move past the statue.

Now, I must admit, at this point I did something a bit foolish. Being new to the group, and knowing how others can see us dwarfs, I wanted to show the group, that I did understand and enjoy their sense of humor. And I had heard children telling similar jokes in the past. I must stress, that at no point was I attempting to show up Evelios with my superior understanding of the humans.

So, when I crossed the threshold and the statue said “Knock, Knock”, I responded with “Who’s there”. Then when the statue said “Interrupting Trap”, I gave the time honored response, “Interrupting Trap Who?”. At this point, the statue sent a force exploding outwards towards the door of the crypt, severely hurting myself and Ysildea, and making me feel quite the fool.

So, when Ysildea called for someone to break the head off that statue, I gladly complied thinking she was as angry as myself. However, Ysildea actually seemed to believe that she could take the head of the statue with her and use it as some sort of weapon. I was somewhat relived to see she was incapable of carrying the statue head and I did not offer to help her with it.

We then went down to the lower level. There was a stone sarcophagus here like in the other crypts. Evelios and I were unable to remove the lid, so Ysildea proceeded to blast the lid repeatedly with bolts of power until it began to crumble. At that point Evelios and I were able to finish removing the lid. Inside was long passed corpse holding a single scroll tube.

Ysildea grabbed the tube and began to read. Her eyes came alight and she quickly stashed the scroll case in your bag turned and headed for the exit. I, and the others, called out to her but she refused to even acknowledge us.

At this point my frustration with her behavior won out and I moved to stop her by force. I regret that decision at this point, not because stopping her was wrong, but because it was made in too much haste. I gave no credence to the idea of an undue magical influence, even though Jerry was missing from the group after being affected by a magical affect from an item from one of these tombs. So, although I feel justified in preventing her from taking from the group and just leaving, I likely should have tried to restrain her or used some other method instead of resorting immediately to more deadly force.

A vicious fight ensued. Sylrel was shocked at this development and simply stood aside watching, but Evelios jumped in trying to stop the two of us from killing each other. First I went down, but after I was revived, Ysildea again tried to leave without sharing the content of the scroll and the fight resumed. Ysildea went down next, but after she was revived, I knocked her unconscious and we retrieved the scroll from her.

The scroll contained the instructions on how to construct a Lich! Even worse, from the information and steps inside the scroll it was clear that someone in the village had been made a Lich at least once before. The blood and poison from the other crypts along with the statue with the silver runes inside it matched the descriptions given too closely for it to be coincidence? And why would Ysildea try to take this knowledge from us and not share it? Did she want it for herself or was she trying to cover up what was going on in town ?

We were quite unsure what to do at this point. Evelios even suggested outright killing her. I felt that was a step too far, but was concerned what our other options were. If we turned her over to local law enforcement, would they even be able to contain her? Sylrel insisted that she be woken and given a chance to explain herself, but before brining her back to consciousness, I made Evelios and Syrel promise to me that they would stand with me if Ysildea sought revenge and that she would be held accountable for her actions.

Session 10, 12/18/2021

I will not bore the reader with too much of her rantings, but Ysildea attempted to defend her position. First by claiming that she had performed the most work and so therefore the item was rightfully hers. Then by claiming that she was protecting the group, or the public at large, by hoarding the knowledge and that the group should absolutely trust that she would reveal the knowledge if it was important for them. Ignoring the fact that the scroll, when combined with the other clues found, showed that someone in town had made, or at least attempted to make, a Lich. A piece of knowledge that certainly had direct impact on a group who was consistently encountering and combating the undead as part of their quest in the area.

Ultimately she could not give an answer for her actions or a promise on her future actions that made the other members of the group comfortable. My suggestion was to remove her from the group. Again, I had already argued against killing her and at this point I still did not see that as a forgone conclusion. She said she would conduct her own investigation, which would be her right and no one spoke against her doing so.

Then, suddenly, she began casting a spell targeted at me. This was not the outcome I had hoped for, but nor was I surprised. I had prepared myself for this eventuality and when she began her casting I launched a guiding bolt at her, again knocking her again down to deaths door. She began to revive on her own, and after what had just passed, I had prepared myself again. This time the target of her spell was Evelios, but I fired another guiding bolt and again she went down. At this point, it had become too much and Evelios and I ended her life.

Feeling quite shell shocked, we returned to the inn to collect our thoughts and get something to eat, thinking we could return to the cemetery later.

At the Roc’s Nest we sat at the group’s usual table and ordered some lunch. Khira was working as usual. We noticed, once again, the wounds on her arm. Evelios asked about them and she claimed again that they we the result of a kitchen accident. We listened to her closely and inspected the wounds the best we could, but it all appeared to be as she described.

We did notice when she went to serve a new face in the room. His manner of speech and his unusual lunchtime order drew our attention. An elf of fairly average looks, but who spoke in a manner indicating perhaps a lifetime of study, maybe even a bit too long between the bookshelves.

Evelios invited the newcomer over to our table and he joined us there. His name is Professor Abernathy Macmilligan. He seems very proud of it and seemed to repeat it quit a bit. I will try and keep that in mind, but I suspect I shall often refer to him simply as The Professor. I did mention to him that there is another professor who frequents the inn, it will be interesting to see them interact. Perhaps I will take a page from The Professor’s book and consider that a case study of some sort. Whatever that means.

After a brief discussion we decided to trust The Professor and invite him to join our group and assist us. We did our best to quickly bring him up to speed on what had happened so far. Trying to explain it all really brings into focus how much has happened in the investigation in such a short time period.

After finishing lunch we grabbed our shovels and headed back out to the cemetery. I am still not sure how this did not raise any suspicions.

At the crypt we showed the professor the broken statue and discussed the implications. I wondered what would happen to a Lich if you destroyed it’s phylactery. The scroll provided no insight. But the professor questioned, how do we even know a Lich was created. Perhaps the statue was destroyed in the attempt. A good point to keep in mind.

We moved on to the next crypt to be investigated. We searched and opened the door when it revealed no traps. The ground floor of this crypt was a bit different. It held a sarcophagus, but unlike the others this one seemed to be newer and actually cared for. Written on the tomb was “Sara the Undefeated”. Evelios and I attempted to remove the lid, but were unable to, so The Professor shrunk the lid down to a more manageable size.

Inside was a more recently interned body than we had seen in the other crypts. She appeared to have many been a knight or a member of some martial order. She was still dressed in her armor, but it was full of holes and rents. She had a long sword, still in good condition, laid across her body. She may have been undefeated, but she had surely taken a beating of some kind. No one recognized the order she belonged too and we found nothing else of interest in the sarcophagus itself, so we closed the lid and proceeded to the lower level of the crypt.

The lower level was a long hallway lined with newer statues of soldiers. There were three more sarcophagi spread down the hallway. We removed the lid from the first one and found an older corpse covered in rings and with an amulet. Sylrel cast detect magic to see if any of the items might have mystical properties, but detected nothing. She then walked down the hallway to try and detect anything from the other 2 coffins.

Sylrel had just passed the middle of the hall when she was attacked with no warning. The creature formed from the darkness and appeared to be made of shadow. It lashed out at her doing her great harm and seeming to attach itself to her. Evelios fired on the creature harming it, but also transferring some of the damage to Sylrel. She was overcome and collapsed to the ground. I moved up and attacked the creature with my warhammer while using a magical healing to bring Sylrel back to us and The Professor maneuvered around the creature and fired magical energies into it.

The creature attacked and harmed me, but was unable to attach itself to me as it had to Sylrel, so it moved away in search of another victim. I struck it another blow as it turned away and the creature was vanquished, disappearing without a trace. This last part seemed to disappoint The Professor who was interested in examining the remains if at all possible.

We took a short break and then opened the other two sarcophagi and searched all three again. In the third sarcophagus was a large bundle of papers wrapped in twine. They turned out to be a series of letters between Zaris Narim and his sister Tamara Narim. This was of great interest as Tamara was the creature they had spoken with the other night and Zaris was the name above one of the crypts. In the letters Zaris was complaining to Tamara about the difficulties he was having in trying to convert himself to a Lich. Tamara seemed to almost belittle him, telling him that his formulas were off and that he would never have success.

We discussed what this new revelation meant for our investigation and then closed up the tombs and moved on to the next crypt.

The next crypt was completely empty on the upper floor, so we proceeded down the stairs to see what was down below. The lower floor was a long hallway again. This time the entire length of the floor was covered in humanoid bones except for the very far end. At that end was a raised platform with a large statue on it. The Professor used his magic to rustle the bones a bit, but when there was no response we proceeded down the hallway with Evelios in front, followed by myself, then The Professor and Sylrel bringing up the rear.

When Evelios had almost reached the far end of the hallway a force like a whirlwind moved through the bones coalescing them into a colossal bone creature. Now, my people may not be known for being spry, but seeing this beast inspired me to quickly move into action. I called up the power of Moradin to fill the heart of the beast with fear and cause it to flee. Moradin answered my prayer and the beast turned and ran from the crypt.

Knowing that even the power of mighty Moradin would not keep the beast at bay for long, we quickly ran to the statue and conducted a hasty search. The Professor spotted a hidden compartment in the base of the statue and Evelios opened it and snatched out the contents. We then fled the crypt as quickly as we could. We ended up heading into a neighboring crypt, closing the door and hunkering down waiting to see if we would hear the creature return.

Now, some may want to describe such an action as a “tactical retreat” or “maneuvering to more favorable ground”, but sometimes caution is the better part of valor. And I would hate to meet Moradin in the after life and have to explain that after he had answered my prayer and caused the creature to flee, I had waited around until it returned. I am sure the All Father is as patient as he is wise, but it’s probably better not to test him so.

While hiding in the crypt waiting for the beast to return, The Professor read through the book and found a number of interesting things. First was an entry on the creature itself, a Bone Horror. The Professor then took the opportunity to lecture Sylrel on the dangers of confronting such a beast. Sylrel suffered his elfsplaining with perhaps a better attitude than I would have.

The second discovery was a dog eared page that contained an entry for a creature called a Boneclaw. This sad creature is the result of a failed attempt to turn oneself into a Lich. After creation, the Boneclaw will search out the most evil creature in the area and enslave itself to it.

The creature’s description seemed to match the creature the group had encountered during their investigation into the missing children and Sylrel confirmed this. Also, the description in the book matched the creatures behaviors as it had said over and over it was only following it’s masters commands.

After Sylrel and The Professor heard the beast return to it’s den, we gave it several more minutes and then left our hiding spot. The Professor used a spell to help seal the door and we gladly moved on to the next crypt.

The upper floor of the next crypt contained two statues and a stone sarcophagus. We examined them, but they appeared totally normal and revealed no clues. We then decided to proceed down the stairs. We should have been more careful as we went, but one of the stairs I stepped on triggered a trap and the room quickly filled with a vicious gas. It hurt Sylrel and Evelios, but then quickly dissipated doing no more damage. We carefully searched the stairs, but found no more traps so we headed down into the lower level.

The bottom floor of this crypt was filled with stone sarcophagi, stacked haphazardly, some open others closed. Stacked within and around the stone coffins were numerous coins and gems. Also mixed among the treasure were a number of interesting items.

Although we had not taken any coins or rings from the crypts we had looked at previously, we felt this collection seemed to be a stash of hidden treasure and not the personal items of the citizens buried here at the cemetery and so felt comfortable in liberating these things. Perhaps these had been the possessions of the countless victims used to fill lower floor of that last crypt with bones and create that monstrosity.

While we counted the coins and gems, The Professor took the time to use his magic to identify the various objects. They included 7 magical arrows (went to Evelios), a potion of speed (went to Sylrel), a ring of Mind Shielding (went to me) and a crystal ball (went to the professor).

Session 11, 12/25/2021

At this point a quick discussion was held on whether to continue with the final tomb or to head back to the Inn. I was feeling a bit beat up, but the other preferred to finish the last crypt and hopefully leave the cemetery behind for good. In the end that seemed the wisest course of action so we approached the final crypt.

This crypt had an inscription above the door that read “Tamara Narim”. The same creature the group had spoken to the night before and who was mentioned in the group of letters we had found. We were certain this crypt would hold a wealth of information, but also would be the most dangerous by far.

We approached the door and Evelios inspected it for any suspicious traps and found none. So Sylrel cast detect magic and the door gave off a faint aura of magical protection. At this point we had a quick conversation about whether we should try and force our way in. At that point, we noticed a familiar figure lurking on the other side of the graveyard. It was Tamara Narim herself (itself?).

The Professor and I approached Tamara as it seemed she wanted to talk with us. We kept a respectful distance and tone. I was sure, and she did confirm, that she was a powerful creature of evil, but she seemed far above what we would be capable of handling. I thought it would best if we could gather what info we could from her and then I could file a report with the temple to alert them to the presence of such a powerful undead creature.

During our conversation with her she requested that we not disturb her crypt, and we were glad to be able to point out that we had indeed not done so. She also, in a round about fashion, confirmed that her brother had failed in his attempt to become a Lich and was indeed a Boneclaw in the service of someone in the local area. We could use the crystal ball to gather the info needed to track him down. Lastly she also hinted that she had succeeded where her brother had failed.

Having gathered what info we could we promised to leave her crypt in peace (for now) and retreated back to the Inn.

Once we returned to the Roc’s Nest we discussed if we should immediately scry for information on the Boneclaw or whether it would be better to use the crystal ball to help deal with Gideon Graymantle. I cast an augury and determined that if we used the crystal ball to look upon Gideon it would give us useful information in dealing with him, so it was decided that was the best course to take.

The Professor worked his magic and Gideon came into view crouched in a dark, cramp space. After a few moments it became apparent it was the loft of a barn. In a corner of the loft was a small hastily put together sleeping area. While searching it he found a small clump of animal hair, similar to the one we had found at the restaurant, but gray instead of brown.

Gideon then left the loft and the outside of the barn came into view. We asked Kevin and Gharrus to come over and let us know if they recognized the barn and Gharrus let us know it looked to be Brota’s Stables, a place far on the other side of town.

Since the stables were so far away we figured the best way to deal with Gideon was to set a trap for him that evening. We paid Gharrus to clear the common sleeping room for the evening so we would have privacy and set our trap. The Professor set a magical snare before the door and we spread out to the various beds and pretended to sleep.

Late in the night Sylrel and Evelios heard a snuffling from outside one of the windows and warned us to prepare ourselves. He entered through one of the windows and Evelios attacked first in surprise. Sylrel then cast hold person and succeeded in restraining him. I then moved to quickly tie him. It was over so quick it was almost a let down, but I guess that is why we took so many precautions.

After tying him up, he seemed to deflate a bit and ended up answering our questions. Really, the whole thing was a bit tawdry. He was hired by an affluent family to effectively fix the case such that Jayla Floren and her family would not inherit any of the wealth. He was to do so in any way necessary. At the restaurant he had attempted to silence the ex-boyfriend and destroy the evidence, but had bitten Jayla and changed her by mistake.

We set a guard on him and finished out the night.