Barrowmaze #14 Late Autumn/Early winter 1360 (27/11/1360) Year of the Turret (Year of the Turret?)/Black Chronology, Year of the Armies PC: Aya, Droghal, Sir Glendor, Kevan, Liam, Macready, Spartagus and The Witch of Narfell. The Witch of Narfell We gather at the Brazen Strumpet in Helix; the party has grown since I returned from Impultur. Kevan, the bard, has come south to investigate the fearsome reputation of the Barrowmaze; when the tavern troubadours spot him, they launch into a bawdy version of The Bard in the bucket. But the mysterious beauty who refers to herself as the Witch of Narfell and the luminous Aya, not Kev, catch the eye. Droghal leads the party safely through the bogs of the South Moor to the mist-shrouded Barrowmoor. Our first stop is the Barrow of Presence, where I perform the charisma-enhancing cleansing ritual. Following the ceremony, we retrace our steps to centre west Barrowmoor, where we come across a troll pack's faint but distinguishable tracks; they are stalking us. Alerted to the danger, we press on to the Barrow where Mohag perished. The Barrow in which the skeleton warriors slew Mohag looks much like the others, ancient and foreboding. Sir Glendor orchestrates the memorial service atop a coffin; we reminisce about Mohag's easy-going charm, antics and dour wisdom. Ilmater who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Mohag is done, He wonders no longer on the Barrowmoor but now in the Beastlands, Give us this day our daily loot, And forgive us our trespasses, As we take vengeance on those who trespass against us, Lead Mohag into the Happy Hunting Grounds, And deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom, The power and the glory Forever and ever Lets Rock! Aya As I finish Ilmaters prayer, thinking us trapped, the trolls attack. Half a dozen green-skinned monsters charge into the Barrow. But the trolls have fatally underestimated us; we are not trapped in the Barrow with them; they are trapped in it with us. Aya and the Witch of Narfell burn the trolls with fireballs; the rest of us chop, bash and stab them to bits, conducted by Sir Glendor (still atop the coffin). Following the skirmish, keen-eyed Aya discovers secret stairs descending into the Barrowmaze. As we make ready to enter the Barrowmaze, the Witch of Narfell bids us farewell; as mysteriously as she joined the company, she leaves it. At the foot of the stairs is a junction, sturdy double doors warped by centuries of damp bars entry to a chamber to the north. In the other direction, a corridor runs south with exits to the west, south and northeast. Mighty Droghal and Spartagus use their strength to breach the doors with crowbars, revealing a large ossuary, shelves stacked with bones and skulls that rattle and shake as calcified skeletons crawl from the remains to attack! Sir Glendor leads the charge, smashing into the undead Droghal close behind blasts through them like a wrecking ball, his great maul obliterating several in a reckless rush. The rest of us deal with the bare bones still standing. After the scrap, Marlon, Liam's familiar, helps search through bones and rubble, and we find some loot, including a diamond ring good for revivifying spells, so Aya keeps hold of it. Spartigus notices another set of double doors to be slightly ajar during the search and hears a scratching sound beyond when he investigates hungry blood spiders set upon him poisoning him. We jump to the recuse - "If you want blood, You got it!" We take a short rest in the ossuary; Kev, the bard, uses his arcane wand to lock the doors. After resting, we head south. Spartagus and Droghal crack open another old warped set of double doors, opening up an ancient tomb featuring a sarcophagus and a gargoyle. Sir Glendor immediately dislikes the gargoyle and starts bashing it, causing the gargoyle to attack and a mummy to burst from the coffin. The mummy paralyses Spartagus with fear before it, and the 'Margoyle' are pounded into dust. The mummy must have been of some importance in its day, adorned as it is in fine jewellery; there's also a great deal of indecipherable text on its casket. Meanwhile, in the corridor, bard Kev casually leans against the dungeon wall, strumming away without a care in the world, working on a new jingle. Suddenly, a large gang of tomb robbers round the corner, Kev tongue-tied for once (mummy and margoyle dust perhaps), is unable to talk his way out of the seemingly inevitable mugging. But before the situation gets ugly, Sir Glendor strolls into the corridor and tells the muggers to sling their hook, and the villains skulk off to the west; one falls into a pit trap and dies. We travel west along a passageway that runs parrel to the one the footpads took, coming across a short passage north blocked by a portcullis, behind which hangs a dirty yellow curtains screening whatever lies behind it. We leave it be and continue west. The Cells A short distance west of the portcullis, we come across a sinister altar covered in dried blood. To the north runs a long corridor (over 100') lined with burial chambers (7). We investigate the easternmost crypt first. It contains what we believe to be a dead adventurer (magic sword and armour); desperate scratch marks on the inside of the door indicate the adventurer was trapped here. It is unclear how they died, starvation? It turns out it's not a dead adventurer but an undead adventurer, and it attacks, but the Drog smashes the lone skeleton to pieces effortlessly. When Liam discovers a sticky trail of slime leads from the undead adventurer's tomb, a few of us simultaneously burst into the chorus of The Bard in the bucket. Graffiti, both puerile and telling, covers the walls of this corridor - CAN'T GET OUT - perhaps a reference to the trapped adventurer. Toward the western end of the catacomb, a strong wind comes from nowhere and blows the torches out, but thankfully not the light spell Aya cast on Spartagus's shield. Possibly drawn to the light spell half a dozen giant snakes attack Sir Glendor from the darkness and Spartagus gets poisoned again. In the vault adjacent to the snakes, Sir Glendor finds the remains of another adventurer, probably a wizard from the magical scrolls that remain unravaged by time. As we pause to discuss next steps Aya identifies a scarab the from the mausoleum skeleton with her vast knowledge of Mulhorandi antiquity as a powerful token against fear; we agree the Spartagus should have it as the Barrowmaze seems to have it in for him. Are the chambers lining the corridor cells rather than crypts? We decide to return to Helix, share out the loot and rest. As Droghal leads us back to Helix, my mind wanders; it seems to be the dungeon has regions defined by different characteristics or personalities. Am I going insane, have I missed the Barrowmaze? Spartagus Downtime (28/11/1360 - 12/12/1360 TBC): Liam (successfully) and Mac (failure) spend a week navigating the used magic market to make a tidy profit on the unwanted items. Spartagus teaches Mac some gladiator moves. Mac purchased an extra crowbar for the trunk of junk.