Player Summary
Three adventurers, one royal tomb, and a lich who will not stay dead.
The session opens exactly where July 30 froze: skeletons in a catacomb hallway, Kimber’s Cloud of Daggers still spinning in an archway. Caelum, who missed the whole “long rest and mystery potions” era, gets pulled back in with the wrong spells prepared and a brand-new third eye he’s still learning to drive.
And drive it he does. Both normal eyes closed, middle eye open, 4th-level Magic Missile. Four bolts hit the skeleton. The other bolts hit Idril, because the skeleton was inside Idril, who is still a Large water elemental who speaks only Primordial.
Orion arrives from the monastery mid-fight and gets the full tour: a water elemental waving at him, a ghost named Kruger drifting behind the party, and a wizard with three eyes. “What do you mean, that’s Idril?”
Idril spends the session as the world’s most chaotic siege engine: grappling a skeleton and beating a zombie to death with its leg, flipping every memorial lid in a room full of cremation niches, picking a lock with a “nail,” pocketing two lit torches, and turning a burning floor brazier into a crypt sauna.
Between fights, the picture sharpens. This is a ROYAL tomb, the Valaryn royal tomb, and the stairs connect right up to where Mexoz was first found. The lich was one of this town’s royals. There’s a memorial to the bravest guard dog. There’s a statue of Raskoln, Warlord of Destruction, that is newer than everything around it and hovers half a foot off the floor. And in the deepest chamber sits Mexoz’s TRUE sarcophagus: sealed by two extreme-case dial locks, radiating magic, with a forbidden book caged in steel and bolted to the lid. The Lexicon of Istra.
Then Caelum lights the last room up with a Lightning Bolt, and there he is. Mexoz. Third time. Behind him, a colossal statue of a beautiful woman with a sword through her chest. Orion, quietly: “It’s Aira. Found her.”
Roll credits.
Session Timeline
- Cold open, mid-combat - The party picks up the July 30 fight; Cloud of Daggers still holds two skeletons at the archway.
- Caelum re-inserted - No dungeon spells prepared (“the six-week long rest” he wasn’t there for), familiar not summoned.
- Third eye debut - Both normal eyes shut, middle eye focused, 4th-level Magic Missile; elemental Idril eats the bolts meant for the skeleton inside him.
- Orion rejoins - Back from the monastery, meets elemental Idril and Kruger the ghost for the first time.
- Corridor cleanup - Skeletons and zombies fall room by room; Idril clubs a zombie with a grappled skeleton’s leg.
- The memorial room - Cremation niches, the guard-dog plaque (“Bingo!”), animal remains, and a nat 20 nature check worth 17.
- It’s a royal tomb - The Valaryn royal tomb; stairs connect up to Mexoz’s original sarcophagus room. Mexoz was royalty.
- The stone door - No Knock prepared; nail-lockpicking fails, then eventually succeeds (a 13 and a broken nail).
- The Raskoln statue - A recent “bastardization” of the Warlord of Destruction, wall-mounted, hovering half a foot off the floor.
- Crypt sauna intermission - Idril sits on a burning floor marker; steam everywhere.
- Mexoz’s true tomb - Twin 5-dial locks, strong magic, and the steel-caged Lexicon of Istra bolted to the lid. Nothing opens.
- Lightning Bolt reveal - 30 damage lights the deep chamber: Mexoz stands there, third encounter, with the impaled statue of “Aira” looming behind him. Session ends.
Encounters
| # | Enemies | Location | Outcome | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leftover skeletons (July 30 remnants + reinforcements) | Catacomb corridors | Win | Magic Missile friendly fire into elemental Idril; Orion arrives mid-fight |
| 2 | Zombies + skeletons, room by room | Royal tomb corridors | Win | Skeleton-leg beatdown (28 bludgeoning); Orion “He’s dead. Again.” |
| 3 | Zombies in the deep chamber | Beyond the archway | Win (then cliffhanger) | Lightning Bolt (3rd, DC 17) for 30 lights up Mexoz himself |
Combat Summary
- Total Rounds: rolling skirmishes across the crawl, ~6-8 rounds total
- Damage Highlights: Idril’s grapple-slam for 28 bludgeoning with a skeleton as the weapon; Caelum’s Lightning Bolt for 30; Caelum’s 4th-level Magic Missile opener (8 of it into his own party member’s watery torso)
- Comedy lowlight: Caelum whiffing Voltedge twice with matching 11s (“That is shocking”)
Party Status (Post-Session)
| Character | Condition | Resources Used |
|---|---|---|
| Caelum | Healthy, face to face with a lich | 1 Bladesong, Magic Missile (4th), Lightning Bolt (3rd), Detect Magic; DM granted a post-session spell swap |
| Orion | POISONED (~7 days left), otherwise fine | Minor; melee only |
| Idril | Still a Large water elemental (took 8 friendly fire + skeleton pokes) | Slams, grapples, dignity |
Key Decisions
- Nobody opened anything they shouldn’t have. The party inspected Mexoz’s true sarcophagus, the caged Lexicon, and the twin dial locks, and walked away without forcing any of it. (The explosives idea was floated and immediately vetoed.)
- Pressed deeper instead of leaving. With the tomb mapped as a dead-end loop back to the surface, the party chose the unexplored archway, which is how they found the true tomb and Mexoz himself.
- Orion deflected the poison question. “Don’t worry, I got a plan for that.” The monastery ritual outcome was never stated.
Quests & Progress
- Moonstone Crown / Mexoz (major progress): The catacomb is the Valaryn royal tomb; Mexoz was one of this town’s royals. His true sarcophagus is found: double 5-dial extreme-case locks, strongly magical, with the forbidden Lexicon of Istra caged and bolted to the lid. And the lich himself appeared for the third encounter at session end.
- Cure Orion: No stated progress; ritual outcome unclear. Clock: dead ~end of the 25th of Harvest, ~7 in-world days.
- Everything else: unchanged (memory, Torvaris, Beadale errands, Enraged Legion, Mano).
Unresolved Threads
- Who is Aira? The impaled statue behind Mexoz; Orion recognized her (“Found her”). No prior record anywhere in the campaign notes.
- What is the Lexicon of Istra, who is Istra, and why is the book sealed to Mexoz’s coffin?
- Who installed the Raskoln statue? It’s newer than the tomb and hovers off the floor.
- What are the twin dial-lock codes? And does the code-locked gold cylinder share the mechanism?
- Who keeps the torches lit in a tomb full of undead?
- Did the monastery actually do anything for Orion?
Reminders for Next Session
- The party is standing in front of Mexoz. Third encounter, no initiative rolled yet. Three PCs on site (Caelum, Orion, elemental Idril).
- The Alarm + Detect Magic phylactery sweep drafted July 30 is now immediately relevant: the lich is right there, and his true tomb is in reach.
- Caelum was allowed to swap a couple of prepared spells (Knock, anyone?).
- Orion’s poison: ~7 in-world days to cure.
- Idril’s water-elemental duration still unknown.
Loot & Gold
- Gold earned: 0 (no bounty harvesting this session)
- Items found: The Lexicon of Istra (found, NOT taken; caged and bolted down). 2 lit torches (Idril, stored internally).
- Items used/lost: None. One cracked nail.