Player Summary

The cemetery job was supposed to be finished. It is now much worse than when it started.

The night opened as cleanup. Cartman pried his Sunblade off the floor (the one he handed to a zombie two weeks ago, zombie hand still attached) and drove it up through the last skeleton’s skull. Wrathgar contributed by hammer-throwing the bottom half of a zombie thirty feet across the room. Kimber strolled in late and asked whether she was late or exactly on time.

Then Cartman and Idril tried to shove open a sarcophagus lid. Rolling at advantage, Cartman put both dice on 1. The table spent five minutes sentencing him and settled on a thrown-out back plus seized armor, so he spent the rest of the night unable to straighten his torso.

Meanwhile Oggy and Orion examined the giant dwarven warrior statue and snapped the head off its stone hammer. Under the break was flesh. The statue is a petrified person. Two empty sockets flank him, one shaped like a twenty-sided die, one triangular, and neither takes the hammer.

Then somebody finally got a sarcophagus lid to move. The stone slid, and Mexoz climbed out of it, six weeks dead, wearing a ghostly after-image of the crown Orion shattered.

The fight was ugly. Kimber Counterspelled him cold (“Not today”), then cast Harm on an undead and healed him for 54. Mexoz answered by upcasting Cloudkill to ninth level, flooding the crypt. Caelum passed the save and burned Song of Defense to cut the damage to fourteen. Oggy, who does not need eyes, walked into the poison on blindsight and put 61 into the lich in a single turn. Cartman landed a 52-damage radiant smite and Misty Stepped straight back out of the gas. Wrathgar, who nobody had briefed, threw a hatchet, missed, and was immediately accused of working for the lich.

Orion ended it. Twenty-one to hit, third-level smite, 33 damage, concentration broken, hammer down overhead until the bones gave. Then he emptied his entire 55-point Lay on Hands pool into Caelum, who was sitting at 15.

Idril opened the second sarcophagus and found a fortune: platinum, gold, five diamonds, nine satchels of gems, a suit of armor nobody trusts, and a second Moonstone Crown. Kimber’s response was immediate and unprintable.

The party is heading back to town to rest and cash in fingers. The cemetery is not clear, the lich is not dead in any way that matters, and the crown is back.

Session Timeline

1. Cleanup - The last skeleton falls; Cartman recovers his Sunblade and bursts its skull.
2. The half-zombie throw - Wrathgar hammer-throws a severed lower torso thirty feet.
3. Kimber rejoins - “Am I late, or is my timing exactly right?”
4. The tombs - The south tomb is undisturbed; the north tomb has been disturbed.
5. The finger debate - Harvesting corpse fingers for the bounty is proposed and rejected.
6. Hallway ambush - A zombie jumps the scout and is killed in one exchange.
7. Double ones - Cartman rolls two natural 1s at advantage. Back thrown out, armor locked, at half for the rest of the session.
8. The statue - A STR save of 20 snaps the stone hammer head off the dwarven warrior.
9. Flesh under stone - Perception 24 reveals the statue is living flesh beneath a stone shell.
10. The sockets - Two empty pedestals: one icosahedral, one triangular. The hammer fits neither.
11. Mexoz returns - The party finally shoves a sarcophagus lid open, and the lich killed on June 4 climbs out wearing a spectral after-image of the destroyed crown.
12. Counterspell - Kimber upcasts to 5th and stops him cold.
13. Harm heals him - Kimber casts Harm on an undead and gives the lich 54 HP back.
14. Cloudkill, ninth level - DC 20, 58 on a fail, 29 on a save, ten-minute duration.
15. Song of Defense - Caelum passes, burns a 3rd-level slot, takes 14.
16. Cartman’s smite - 52 radiant on one attack, then Misty Step out of the cloud.
17. Oggy blind-fights - 61 damage in one turn on blindsight, forcing a DC 30 concentration check.
18. Friendly fire - Kimber’s blind Witch Bolt hits Orion for 46.
19. Orion ends it - 21 to hit, 3rd-level smite, 33 damage, overhead hammer strike.
20. Lay on Hands - Orion empties his full 55-point pool into Caelum: 15 to 70.
21. The hoard - Idril opens the second sarcophagus and finds a new Moonstone Crown.
22. Withdraw - The party declines to camp in the catacomb and heads back to town.

Encounters

Combat Summary

• Total Rounds: roughly 5 in the lich fight, plus two short skirmishes
• Damage Highlights: Oggy 61 in one turn (blind); Cartman 52 radiant on a single attack; Mexoz’s 9th-level Cloudkill at 58/29; Kimber’s Witch Bolt into Orion for 46; Orion’s finishing 33
• Own goals: Kimber healed the lich for 54 with Harm, then shot Orion for 46

Party Status (Post-Session)

Key Decisions

• Declined to loot the undisturbed tombs for bounty fingers.
• Deliberately did not insert the hammer head into either socket, choosing to wait until both matching objects are found.
• Declined to camp in the catacomb (including in an emptied coffin) and withdrew to town.
• Chose to formally report that the first lich kill did not take.

Quests & Progress

• Zombie Bounties: the July 2 question is answered. Mexoz was never permanently dead. Bounty gold still uncollected.
• The Moonstone Crown: REOPENED. The lich returned, and a second intact crown has surfaced.
• New: the petrified dwarven warrior and his two sockets are an active puzzle.

Unresolved Threads

• A second Moonstone Crown exists. Where did it come from, and how do you destroy it with Destone spent?
• Who petrified the dwarven warrior, and is he still alive inside the stone?
• The two sockets: one icosahedral, one triangular. What fits them, and what do they open?
• Mexoz regenerates in under an hour. The phylactery cylinder is still code-locked in the party’s own bag.
• The unidentified armor. Suspected cursed, wants appraising.
• Can the lich bounty be claimed twice, and is there proof of either kill?
• The disturbed north tomb was never followed up.
• Still pending from June 18: Beadale, Sister Helwin, Kimber’s cure, the undead dragon report.

Reminders for Next Session

• The party is withdrawing to town for a long rest, carrying the hoard, the new crown, the unidentified armor, and the stone hammer head.
• Cartman’s back and locked armor are an active condition until he rests.
• Kimber’s zombie curse clock is still running.
• The catacomb is not cleared and the statue puzzle is unsolved.

Loot & Gold

• 55 platinum, 46 gold, 38 silver, 59 copper
• 5 diamonds, valued at 800 gold total
• 9 satchels of precious gems, 75 gold each (675 gold)
• 1 set of armor, unidentified, suspected cursed
• 1 Moonstone Crown, intact
• 1 stone great hammer head, broken off the petrified warrior
• Approximate coin and gem value: ~2,074 gp equivalent
• Gold collected from bounties: 0. Fingers still uncashed at the Dawn Chapel.