"Well now let us see what these magic items are," declared Ciprian.
Between Ursina and Armania they determined that they had a +1 Greatsword, which Erevel grabbed immediately. There was +1 Chain mail, a +1 Ring of Protection, a +1 Amulet of Natural Armor, and a +1 Cloak of Resistance.
The unknown potions were of Jump. All the healing potions were distributed among the party. The throwing axes and MW Scimitars were given to the ships crew. Healing was then spread around the party.
The next morning Paullus awoke Fatigued from his night terrors. The party decided not to travel to the Dreamlands with the extras passengers on board. They did not want any more rumors spread accident. So Ursina, Armania and Ciprian set about researching the next item in the list, Green Stone Idol of a Water Lizard.
To research the green stone idol of a water lizard, the group read through the following titles: Festival of the Snake, The Forgotten Servants, and The Illusion of the Weeping Ones. After four days, Ursina as the lead researcher on this topic learned all that he could.
The water lizard referenced was no mere animal—it is a representation of Bokrug, one of the unimaginably powerful Great Old Ones. A horrid treatise collating rumors of the Great Old Ones asserted that Bokrug lived in a vast, unnamed lake in the Dreamlands. A race of alien creatures founded the city of Ib on the shores of the lake and worshiped Bokrug there. An idol of green stone was central to their rites. A quasi-historical dissertation related how Ib was destroyed by proud and warlike humans disgusted by the aliens’ bizarre rites and unusual physiognomy. The victorious humans were from a city called Sarnath. After destroying Ib, the folk of Sarnath carried away a strange green idol and housed it in one of their temples. The idol disappeared from the temple soon thereafter. Ursina learned the proper phrase that allows them to use the Dreamlands excursion occult ritual to reach Sarnath, Doom Idol of Ib.
The next day Skywin sailed to the shore and a small settlement where she let the former slaves off of the Sellen Starling. As the group was leaving one of them approached Armania and gave her a set of boots.
"Please take these Boots of Speed. You will probably need them in your continued protection of the Sellen Starling," he whispered to Armania as he left the ship.
That evening the group again gathered to perform the Dreamlands Excursion Ritual. They successfully managed to complete the Ritual and again the miniature staircase became an entry portal. Descending the stairs the group found themselves in an enormous underground cavern dimly illuminated by multicolored phosphorescent fungus. Near the party, six chanting ghouls were beseeching Nyarlathotep for allies. They assumed that the PCs are an answer to their prayers.
"Hosannah, it has worked. Look the answer to our pleas. Great warriors to help us." the group of ghouls shouted.
"Wha," said Erevel on arrival.
Beyond the chanting ghouls, dozens of other ghouls prepared for battle. Some arranged themselves into strike teams, others strapped on makeshift armor, and a few sparred with one another. These ghouls were far more civilized than the hunger-maddened monsters the group thought, and they did not attack the party.
A green-skinned ghoul pushed through the chanting ghouls to parley with the heros, hands held aloft in a sign of peace.
"Do you speak Aklo?" the strange looking ghoul asked. "My name is Wilkins."
"None of us speak Aklo," Ciprian responded, "but I certainly would like to learn."
"I will speak in Common," he said, "you may have some trouble understanding as it is unnatural."
"So you are a Leng ghoul?" Ciprian inquired.
"Certainly, you are not familiar with our kind?" Wilkins replied.
"No, but these ghouls seem much more sedate than what we are used to." Ciprian added. "Do ghouls have a concept of Royalty?"
"Well, these lesser ghouls had a prince when they lived in the Necropolis. Maybe that is royalty?" Wilkins scoffed. "There are no nobles in this present gathering of ghouls. However, the Plaza of Bones contains the mausoleum of Scarcrim Vost, a ghoul prince destroyed many decades ago. The mausoleum would likely contain Scarcrim’s skull."
"Where is the Plaza of Bones?" Ciprian asked.
"Coincidentally, I was going to ask your party to join our battle with the Gugs. Specifically that the group target a central choke point in the necropolis—the Plaza of Bones. I believe that the plaza is likely to be lightly guarded by Gugs, but it has strategic significance in the overall battle."
"Are you coming with us to help block this passage?" Ciprian asked apprehensively.
"We are needed elsewhere, I would think that a specially summoned group as yourselves would be able to stop a few straggler Gugs."
"Just so we know, what are Gugs?"
"They are a towering menace with a horrible, vertically aligned mouth and arms that split at the elbows into twin clawed hands."
After a discussion the party decided that they would align with the ghouls to try and recapture the Mausoleum. Maybe they could use a large web or illusionary wall to fool the Gugs. But they really needed to get to the Mausoleum.
The ghouls departed within a few minutes to make the 4-mile journey to their erstwhile necropolis. As the ghouls broke into smaller strike forces to assault the city from different directions, Wilkins directed the heroes to the promenade leading to the Plaza of Bones before pursuing his own attack. The sounds of frightened shouting and vicious fighting soon echoed through the vast necropolis.
The promenade was sixty feet wide and thirty feet high, with two columns of pillars marching down the center. Multicolored fungi along the ceiling bathe the passageway in an eerie glow. The floor was scattered with cracked bones, which were more numerous at the far end of the promenade.
Each of the columns in the promenade was carved to resemble multiple intertwined skeletons of humanoids, animals, and stranger creatures. Some of these mysterious carvings are representations of Dreamlands denizens or amalgams of known beasts, while others are absolutely unique beings or unfathomable monstrosities.
Paullus, Armania and Erevel stood dazed at the sight of the creatures. Ciprian identified the creatures as Necrophidius, constructs that had damage reduction from all except bludgeoning weapons. He then started a Bardic Performance against the Necrophidius. Ursina and Gavril moved further into the promenade as the creatures strode off of the pillars to attack with bites. No one was hit by the bite and the party responded with mace and other bludgeoning weapon attacks.
The battle continued with the Necrophidius continuing to miss with their bite attacks. Gavril found that Red Destiny did little damage to the horrific creature. He backed as best he could. The Bone creature threw some of its bones at Gavril which magically duplicated and formed a cage surrounding Gavril, who was captured inside.
As the dazed party members stood idly by, the other three were deeply involved with trying to fight off the bony creatures. The Necrophidius continued to miss with their bite attacks but the Bone construct began damaging Ursina with its slam attack. The creature seemed doubly hard to hit as it certainly had more damage reduction than the party knew. Gavril failed to escape the Bone Prison and Ciprian took down a Necrophidius. He identified the other creature as a Bone Golem that had damage reduction against all but bludgeoning and adamantine. The party had no possible way around the adamantine at this point. After a few rounds the other characters finally were able to react and leapt to the attack. Erevel using her new magic greatsword, Paullus pulling out the Vorpal Scimitar. Armania fired magic missiles at the Golem. Ursina cast invisibility on herself.
The second Necrophidius fell, Gavril took damage from the Bone Prison but finally escaped it. Ursina headed toward the back of the Promenade trying to make sure no Gugs were coming this way. She saw the area open into a plaza in a large cave with strange stone buildings built into the walls. Cracked bones of numerous shapes and sizes covered the floor, piled into grisly, jagged dunes. A solid square building jutted from the bones in the center of the plaza, surrounded by a low circular wall of gray stone. She began piling up bones in wall in front of her.
As four members of the party were now attacking the Golem, it eventually fell into another pile of bones. The party set about passing around some healing and Gavril joined Ursina in building a wall of bones.
After the battle sounds started dying down, Ciprian and Erevel headed into the Plaza, bones loudly crunching under their feet. From the low stone wall it was evident the building was a mausoleum. No door was visible on this side nor the other two visible sides. As the two heroes made it to the edge of the mausoleum they spied a large creature with a vertical mouth and arms split with two claws standing behind the tomb.
DM's Notes: The party earned 2133 XP for the night and now have 49,254 needing only 1,746 to reach 8th level.
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