The Chronicles of a DM: Part III

Two other people turned up in the city of Vaester, Kayla (a human rogue) and Valdour (a Drow (looking like an Elf) rogue). Sir Halumoor finds they are also adventurers, and so includes them in his offer to rescue Jothan. They wander through the Gloomdeeps, following the trail of dead bodies, until they come to the Tomb of Sartine. The traps are not even slightly a problem, and after entering they meet and join up with the adventure already in progress.

The pit that blocks entrance to the next part of the tomb doesn't prove a problem, and they head out to a chamber with toad statues, a crypt and some doors. Two slaughter wights attack, while a Bodak Reaver Death Knight waits with some Abyssal Ghoul Hungerers. [The Toad Statues form part of a puzzle, which is only evident that the players have to deal with after they try the Southern doors. The tactics of the creatures are such that they target those who are trying to solve the puzzle. Given that the players don't know there is a problem, and aren’t likely to try to deal with it in a fight, what's the frickin' point? The Death Knight was a problem, but the minions not even slightly. And damn rogues with backstabbing, bah!]

With the creatures out of the way, they turn to the puzzle. In the previous room they saw words in the order of "Fate, Destiny, Winter, Stark" and now find moveable disks in the order of "Destiny, Winter, Stark, Fate". [Um... so, not even slightly going to mix it up then writers? I hadn’t realised how obvious it was or I would have scrambled them more!] The doors are now safe, and they progress.

Beyond they find a simple T-junction. One way is a barred room with a scorched pattern on in. The other end is a pair of doors. Given the burn pattern, they suddenly turn paranoid. [Heh heh heh, "You can't find any traps."] Eventually, using a grapple on a rope to grasp the door hold, they stand back around the corner and pull the door open... nothing fails to kill them... Amazing!

Beyond the Doors of Non-Death, they find a large mausoleum with a large ice pool in the middle and a tempting glowing circle on the other side. The rogues sneak in to examine some side crypts... and find the hiding sword wraiths! The fight is on, and after everyone moves in, the Angel of Vengeance erupts from the ice, calling some Angel of Valor Legionnaires to its side! [The minions were a tougher fight this time, nice high defences. This did lead to a lot of pieces in play, so was a bit messy to keep track of everything. I did forget to keep regeneration going for the wraiths, and decided they didn't run away as they were the last creatures to die and doing so would have just been annoying. The big Angel should have done a bit more damage, but nothing really did huge attacks. And then there were those damn rogues! Still, the minions were fun.]

Once the beings are down, the party looks at the circle and work out it's a portal to somewhere else (not the Shadowfell), but they need a skull to use it. Oh look, there's a pit to the south with skulls in it! Rather than jump on in, they bunker down to rest up, leaving the Tomb to investigate later.

[END]