Quinua: The Shepherd of Souls

Now that we’ve located the Shepherd’s Staff, we decided to go back to the area in the caves where the spirit of King Agamemnon spoke to me. Entering the area, I could sense many presences. The shadowy spirits began to flicker and jump around and eventually they took shape into a small army of ten well-armed, ghostly warriors. One larger spirit appeared at their lead – it was King Agamemnon! They all looked very fierce and quite frightening, as they weren’t actually “alive”. I spoke to the king (not Elvis – the *other* king) about what transpired and he explained that his son (Morgellon – a name that pained him to speak aloud) and daughter (we never got her name) both betrayed him, so he left them to the will of the goat-men during their uprising. He was determined for me to lead my “flock” to the depths of the caves to seek out their revenge, but I mentioned that we hadn’t yet located the Chime of Opening. He informed us that there was another chime in his daughter’s room; located in an area of the caves we never got around to exploring yet. We set off to recover this important device, but not before King Agamemnon’s warning to us that she has become a dangerous undead creature that we should avoid coming in contact with.

Upon entering this unexplored area, we first noticed that it was quite unlike the rest of the cave. The halls were swept and clean and a series of torches that lined the corridor cast a pleasant and inviting light. We entered a well-kept waiting room where two beautiful women stood, both dressed in flowing robes. Always on his guard, Never Nervous Elvis barked at them that we were here to see the princess. They were taken aback by his abruptness; however we were cordially directed to her chambers through a door on the far wall. We entered to find the princess lying on a lounge with her lady-in-waiting at her side brushing her hair. Without hesitation or introduction, we asked her the location of the Chime of Opening. I can’t say that what occurred next was too much of a surprise, however disturbing and unwelcome it was.

Without a word, the princess rose from her lounge and began to approach us. As she got closer, the light in the room suddenly began to flicker off and on and in between the confusing flashes we saw horrific images of great beast-men violently hacking the women apart with their claws and weapons. Painful screams of agony were only made only worse by the blood and gore splattering all around us. The lights came back on and our entire surroundings appeared different. Our surroundings changed to that of a typical cave chamber, dirty and decrepit and the women were hideous wights that were about to attack! We were fooled by a devious illusion! We weren’t caught off guard though as we got in the first attack. I sensed that my newly acquired staff would be able to help me somehow, so I stood forward with it and spoke some words that I hoped would frighten off these creatures. My words were convincing enough to intimidate three of them into submission, but for how long we didn’t know. Ralph and Willis held off the one stubborn abomination while the rest of us frantically searched the furniture in the room for that elusive chime. Luck was with us as we finally located it in the drawer of a vanity. We quickly secured it and dashed for the exit, but as we passed through the door we saw that Willis had fallen victim to the wights’ energy drain. Unfazed, we kept running as fast as we could without looking back.

Our group about to battle some wight bitches.

We relocated King Agamemnon and his men then headed directly to that strange door we discovered a while ago that electrocuted Elvis when he tried to open it. This time we struck the chime once and the pure tone that it produced caused the doors to open effortlessly. Beyond are some stairs that head to a dark level below. As we continued down, bones of the dead were everywhere. The door at the top of the stairs slammed shut and a loud, screechy voice taunted our presence in the corridor. Numerous blades appeared out of the walls and began to move towards us. Elvis hit them with his faithful sword and some of the blades broke, but didn’t stop coming at us. Chris was able to quickly slink past them, but Hans wasn’t as deft on his attempt and took some serious wounds. Following in Chris’ footsteps, Ralph showed great dexterity (more like luck, actually) and somehow avoided the blades also. Elvis and I retreated to the safety of the stairs until the blades came to a stop. Once they did, we simply walked past them uninjured.

A strange door that opened only with the Chime of Opening.

The corridor led to a very large chamber with racks upon racks of wine and other foodstuffs. It appeared to be some sort of massive pantry. We barely had time to search around when two black, rubbery creatures came towards us looking for trouble. One quickly latched onto Elvis and gave him some problems when Ralph got in a solid shot with his sword and killed it. The other one was stubborn too, but we were able to get the best of it after a short battle. We’re not sure what these things were, but no matter. At this point we discovered there were three other passages leading out of this room. I decided to use one of the spells from that scroll I found in the mummy’s tomb – the enchantment that helps to locate a desired object. I got the paper from my tunic and read the mysterious words aloud while concentrating on an image of a large, skull shaped gem. The incantation worked as a trail of light could be seen heading out of the room via one of the passages. We followed hastily so as not to waste time.

It led to a room with many shelves that were filled with various, ancient tomes. Oh, how I wanted to stay and research each one, but the magical trail of light was indicating our goal was beyond yet another door. There was a strange powder lying on the floor across the front of the other exit. Inspecting it proved to be some sort of material that is used to impede the spread of fire. Cautiously, we brushed the material away and continued through the door. Beyond the door was what I believe to be the Halls of Darkness (as mentioned in the letter to Morgellon). No light could penetrate so following the path was challenging. We eventually made our way into a large room where rotting corpses and bones of unfortunate victims littered the area. After a quick visual scan of the area, we saw a set of stairs that ascend to a large bed with many crushed, velvet pillows all around. Lying on the bed was a most repulsive sight. A fat, naked man was upon it; he appeared to be dead due to much of his flesh rotten from decay. At his side were two “women” – creatures that were more horrific than the ones we fought earlier.

The grotesque man then lifted his head and looked directly at us. He was actually alive! Or whatever his version of alive was. The ghostly King Agamemnon cried out for battle and began to curse the wretched name of Telekis as he and his men quickly charged to attack the creatures. In an instant, the fat, decaying lich began to levitate above the reach of his enemies’ weapons. Knowing that he’d be difficult to defeat from that vantage point, I recalled that my new scroll contained a spell that could conjure an orb of fire. I was hesitant to use it at first, as I’ve never cast such a powerful spell but then I thought if I didn’t act quickly, the opportunity to attack him might be lost. The strange words from the scroll resonated deep within me and I urged my gods to grant me their full consideration. They did not disappoint. The gods were either unhappy with Telekis or pleased with my efforts against him, as a massive ball of fire shot from my hands and exploded directly on Telekis. Charred and severely damaged, he spiraled to the ground and for a brief moment I felt bad for him. That moment of absurdity quickly passed and we continued the assault on him and his wraith wenches. In his last few breaths, he attempted to cast another spell, but Christopher took advantage of his vulnerable state and slew the once mighty lich before the magic could take form. King Agamemnon and his men helped finish off the wraiths and once all the evil was cleansed, the darkness that enveloped the area began to dissipate. With a countenance of relief and deep satisfaction, King Agamemnon approached me, dropped to one knee and conveyed his gratification for helping lead him and his army of souls to this confrontation with Telekis. Having concluded their mission, the spirits then dispersed into the ether.

Looking around the room, our eyes were quickly drawn to the prize we’ve been longing to attain. The evil Death’s Head gem was waiting for us on a pedestal beside the bed of Telekis. Careful not to touch it, Elvis threw a tarp over it and secured it away. Also in the room we found some chests containing all types of gold, gems, and Thracian jewelry. One ring in particular stood out amongst the other valuables. It was inscribed with some peculiar ancient runes. We plan to take full inventory of the treasure, but for now, a quick breather…

King Tolome's many surprises

It seems as though all of our recent adventuring has finally shown some benefit for Elvis, Christopher, Grimdor, and me. Putting what we’ve learned into practical use, we’ve been able to gain new techniques and subtleties of our respective professions. This will help the party greatly when we continue exploring the goat-beast filled tunnels.

Once we arrived at camp, we found that some of Claus’ workers were packing up and preparing to head back to Pentastadion. We decided to wander through town to try and locate some of the folks that we rescued from the caves. I asked them some questions about who kidnapped them and if they knew why they were taken, but I didn’t really get any useful information other than they weren’t imprisoned as slaves, but more as “meals” for the goat-men. Someone mentioned that the librarian at the monastery wanted to see us, so we headed there to speak with him. One of these days we must certainly ask him his name!

Once we got to the monastery, the librarian told us that he did some research based on the information from the papers we previously found in the caves. He discovered that the crypt of the evil King Tolome was built in the caverns away from his own area – off of a temple of Thanatos. He also mentioned that King Agamemnon left his children (two sons and one daughter) behind during the uprising of the evil beast-men and their lives came to some type of bad ending. One last note - one of his sons was a traitor. Could this traitor be Morgellon (the evil prince that was trying to gain access to the Chamber of Pleasures)? Only time and further uncovering of this mystery will tell….

After resupplying in town, we headed back to the caves. Unfortunately, we forgot to notify Claus that we were heading there, so he and his men were not with us. As of now, we’re not sure of his whereabouts. Nick also decided to stay behind to reunite with his brother. On our way, we detoured to pick up Ralph and Willis who were once again hiding in the tunnels waiting for our return. We decided to head back to a set of stairs on the first level that we overlooked earlier. At the bottom, was a long corridor that led to some thick, stone doors. On them, carved in the stone were some words written in a strange language. Grimdor was able to translate some of it and told us that this was the tomb of King Tolome! My pulse quickened a bit as I could sense we were about to discover something good inside… or pay with our lives! The carvings also noted that to unlock the door, a “well-spoken blessing” would need to be invoked. There was also a warning to beware the gaze of vanity and something about a “monster within” being revealed. Hopefully, we can just avoid that whole issue.

Inscription on stone doors leading to King Tolome's tomb

We cautiously opened the doors to find a short tunnel adorned with mosaics on either side. They were of some humanoid type figure, however where their faces would normally be, there were highly polished, reflective surfaces. Always prepared, Never Nervous Elvis rushed inside and immediately covered the reflective surfaces with some black tar that he had, all while being able to avoid seeing his own reflection. Once that was done, we inspected the mosaics to find that six of them were designed to be some sort of angel with wings on them, but the one at the far end of the hallway (on a large door) looked to be some sort of warrior king. My palms began to sweat as I noticed an image of a shepherd’s staff in the mosaic. Could this be where it has been hiding? I was nervous with anticipation!

Elvis stepped forth and spoke a blessing into the ether. Suddenly, a low wicked laugh resonated all around us as the door we entered from closed and trapped us inside. At the same time, the door bearing the warrior mosaic began to open. Inside we found a number of interesting items. A large, stone sarcophagus was the biggest and most obvious item, however there were also two, small chests on the ground, and a scroll (that was tucked inside a small, wooden case) on top of the sarcophagus. While my comrades were investigating those items, my eyes were locked on a wonderful sight of the Shepherd’s Staff! As I was about to pick it up, I felt a strange presence around me. I’m not certain what it was though. The staff was bigger than expected, but I could still wield it well enough to use. It was quite a good feeling to have finally found it. I’m certain it will prove useful. The chests contained some nice treasure also. In one, there was an opal ring and a necklace with a medallion that had a woman’s face imprinted on it. The other contained over 5,000 gold and silver coins of some old Thracian mint. Looks like we hit the mother lode!

Our smiles quickly turned to consternation as we turned our attention to the sarcophagus. Grimdor approached it to inspect the item for possible traps. After carefully scanning it, he assured us there were none and proceeded to pry the lid off by wedging his sword in a small slot. Unexpectedly, the lid flew off and a hand wrapped in cloth lurched out at Grimdor’s head. Luck was not on his side as the attack caught him off guard and immediately struck him down. To our horror, out sprang a hideous mummy that began to attack the remainder of us. The battle was a tough one; the mere presence of the wretched mummy king caused a number of us to flee in terror. In the chaos, someone noticed a set of ceramic jars near the back of the room and began to smash them. This caused the mummy to lose parts (of what was left) of his body. In a rage, the mummy sprang over to the jars in an attempt to halt their destruction, but it was too late. There were still enough of us attacking him that we finally wore him down to his ultimate defeat. Victory over the evil mummy of the former evil Thracian king was quite rewarding.

After the battle, we searched the entire area. As it turns out, the ceramic jars held various body parts – presumably those from King Tolome. I kept two of the jars: one that held a heart and one with various intestines and other internal organs. Inside the sarcophagus we found a scroll upon which was written the edict of King Agamemnon. It spoke of how his fathers’ reign came to an end and how the necromancers were banished when this good king came to power.

Christopher and me fighting the mummy king, while Ralph breaks the ceramic jars

Speaking of scrolls, in all the excitement, we had forgotten about the first scroll that was on top of the sarcophagus. Upon examining it, I found there were four separate charms written upon it. The first was an incantation to protect oneself (and nearby comrades) from evil. Next was some sort of blessing spell to help the caster during combat. The third was an enchantment that helps the caster to locate a desired object, and the last one conjured up a huge ball of fire from the depths below to shoot at ones enemies! These will certainly be useful incase we find ourselves in another predicament.

Once we gathered ourselves from this battle, we headed over to the fountain of pink liquid to quickly heal up a bit. We’ll need it as we plan to continue looking for the Death’s Head!

Tunnels tunnels everywhere, but not a Chime to find!

After bidding farewell to the prisoners we rescued, our gang consisting of Elvis, Christopher, Grimdor, Nicolas, Hanselhopf, Willis, Ralph, the newly re-acquired Bungor, and I (Quinua) continued to adventure in the caves. Only a few short steps down a corridor from the healing fountain, some goat-beast zombies surprised us. They got in a quick attack and Nicolas took a nasty gouge across his throat. Even worse, Bungor’s newfound freedom wasn’t for long. His skull was crushed by a quick and vicious strike from one of the nasties. Needless to say, he didn’t survive. Once we cleared the cobwebs from our heads, we began to fight back. I instructed Willis to join the front rank for battle with Christopher. Elvis stepped forth and whipped out his purple sword. Wait… let me rephrase that. He unsheathed his purple weapon… no, that’s not good either. Umm…. He flashed his purple blade? No, no, no! Let’s just say he somehow invoked Eclipse to magically produce a ray of purple death that instantly obliterated one of the zombies. Quite a nice power – makes me wonder what else the sword can do. After a short battle, we were able to dispatch the remainder of these creatures with no further problems.

Next, we passed through the area of the caves where the disembodied souls spoke to me earlier. I could still hear the faint whispers of their lust for revenge on the goat-men. After some careful searching we discovered a false panel in the wall that led back to the cave exit where the shadows confronted me earlier. Their anguish was as strong as ever, but until I obtain the Shepherds Staff I am of no use to them.

We continued down a new path in the caves and happened upon the non-secret side of a secret door. Grimdor could hear footsteps beyond, so we tried to gain an element of surprise on the unknown creature and burst through the door. What we saw was rather hard to describe. It was an odd beast – some sort of large half-man, half-stegosaurus type creature that wielded many weapons. I thought we startled him at first because he stood in place, not moving nor saying anything. After a while, it seemed as though this creature was mute. I think that even if he could speak, it’s doubtful that we’d share a common language. The best we could do is simply gesture that we are friendly and didn’t intend to harm him. We noticed that his movements were very swift and deft, so we now refer to him as Flash the Knight. Through our rudimentary communication methods, Flash has joined our band, but for how long is unclear. Maybe he’ll just follow us for a while like a lost puppy, only to leave some day. Maybe he’ll turn on us and devour us all for lunch. Who knows?

Continuing on, we were able to map a good portion of this level. We found a large formal chamber with many pillars. The walls were adorned with many murals of Thracian kings and other arcane symbols, but they were mostly chipped and worn. The ceiling was covered with numerous, leathery winged bats and conversely the floor was thick with guano. While searching the chamber and an adjacent kitchen area, we were pleasantly surprised when Claus and two other men emerged from the tunnels. After a brief discussion, he told us that his workers recovered all the valuables in the other caves and he sold the loot to Lord Alexey Romanov. Needless to say, Claus is now a very wealthy man and in celebration of the haul and his new partnership, he partied in Ilyria with the generous stranger. He, along with two guards from Alexey’s employ, decided to search for us to see if we’ve found any new Thracian treasures that we’re willing to sell. For now, the three men are coming along with us as we continue to explore the caves.

The entire crew (with Claus, his guards, and a dead Bungor)

There were two main hallways off the large chamber that were exceptionally wide and very ornately decorated; however both were impassable after a short distance due to rocks and debris that blocked the way. Oddly, near the blocked area in each hall, there was a small, roughly cut tunnel that connected to other areas in the cave. One of these paths led to a room with a hidden pit in the middle of the floor. Luckily, I was alert and avoided falling victim to this evil trap. The rotting corpse of a not-so-lucky victim was at the bottom and after searching it we found a small bounty of gold.

We decided to call it a day and headed back to camp for some rest. Once again we left Ralph and Willis behind along with our newest member, Flash. We’ll return soon to continue uncovering the secrets below and hopefully locate that elusive Chime of Opening.

Map of Level 2

Total Eclipse of the...sword?

Between bouts of recouping at camp from our last adventure, some epic partying in the town of Ilyria, and recouping from said partying, we found time to visit the monastery again to ask the librarian monk some questions about the kidnappings in town, the strange sword that still eludes us, and any lore of the Shepherd of Souls or the Shepherd’s Staff that I need to obtain.

I wanted to know if the monks were even aware of the kidnappings. The librarian informed us that they were and that the kidnappings have been going on for many years. He had a suspicion that the Cult of Thanatos was somehow involved (even though it’s believed they haven’t existed for quite some time). Perhaps some members of this cult have somehow survived or were reborn and are waiting beyond the levels we’ve currently searched. There is still much to discover in those abhorrent caves.

We also asked the librarian what powers Eclipse possesses and he told us that the sword has many powers, but its primary purpose is to oppose evil (especially necromancers). He also mentioned that the powers of the sword grow stronger as the warrior wields it. We must keep a look out for this item as it sounds like it could be quite a useful weapon to have.

When we sought some information about the Shepherd of Souls and the Shepherd’s Staff, the librarian wasn’t of much help. In fact, he seemed quite confused and spoke about legends of god-men that herded souls to the afterlife. He then made a reference to the many lost souls in the caves that probably needed the same help. He knew nothing of the staff that I was told about in my encounter with the cave spirits.

After we left the monastery, we prepared ourselves to head back into the caves. We restocked our supplies in town and I was able to create a good number of poison darts, which I invoked with a cantrip to seek out our enemies’ jugulars with a divine strike! Once we entered the cave opening, I was relieved to find that our two half-goat buddies, Ralph and Willis, were still there waiting for us. I feel the deeper we get into these caves, the more manpower we’ll need. Together with them and myself, were Christopher, Elvis, Hans, Grimdor and NICOLAS!

We headed back to the rooms beyond the glowing purple door. Though we noticed the door was no longer glowing for some reason, we paid it no heed. We continued to explore some adjacent rooms in the area and much to our surprise, we discovered Eclipse sitting on a rack behind some sort of throne! We were so close to finding it the last time we were here – we simply failed to open that last door! No matter, the sword is a beautiful sight! The blade is constructed from some strange metal or alloy that has a silvery, purple colour to it. The hilt is of platinum with images of stars and moons and the pommel is some sort of big, purple, glossy gem. What a great sense of achievement to finally locate it. Now that Elvis wields it, he tells us of his great satisfaction and how he feels unnaturally energized because of it. I’ll take that as a good thing.

Continuing on with our exploration, we eventually discovered a secret door behind the throne. Once we were able to open it, we were shocked to find that it led directly to a secret room with about 30 or so prisoners! Immediately, one of them arose and proclaimed that he knew we would rescue them. It was Bungor! He too was still alive! Once the prisoners were convinced that we had only good intentions, we spoke with a few and found that some had been imprisoned there for many years – kidnapped from Ilyria and held captive in these caves. Amongst these prisoners was Agnesia, the brother that Nicolas was hoping to rescue. We were able to lead them all out of the caves and they immediately headed back to town. We remained behind to continue the exploring. Seems as though we’re on a good roll now…

Another battle with those goat buggers!