Session 26: The Purple Tomb
Summary
Octavius lit the flooded Receiving Room with Dancing Lights while Diedric used Light, then switched the party to silver-eyed darkvision. Hungry after their three-day fast, they ate rations; Lilia, already in octopus form, ate fish from a sahuagin net and wore a sahuagin pearl bracelet. With prestidigitation, they revealed a rail system that let six purple slabs slide along the floor, but the room's purpose remained unclear.
Lilia and Smokescale scouted into the Processing Chamber and tripped an underwater wire, dropping a room-sized patchwork net from the ceiling that trapped them. Sahuagin guards, a priest, and purple-glowing ghouls and ghasts attacked: Smokescale was decapitated by a ghast, Octavius was hit by Hold Person and went down into the water, and Lilia grappled the priest and bit his head with her beak. A fireball did the rest, turning some of the water to steam.
In the Observation Labs, the party identified a surgical/teaching ward and found a dead cyclops being operated on by a frail sahuagin priest; the cyclops rose. Diedric turned the undead cyclops, driving it down a hallway; the priest escaped Lilia's grapple but was killed by Octavius's crossbow, and the fleeing cyclops alerted more enemies.
The party pushed into a pillar room--six pillars, one holding a rough purple stone cube--and fought an undead catoblepas with two ghasts while the cyclops hurled stones at Diedric. Lilia was forced out of octopus form; Turn Undead destroyed the ghasts, and the catoblepas fled, returned, and died in Lilia's Spike Growth.
XP Award
- 400 XP for defeating the guards in the Receiving Room
- 688 XP for killing the ancient cyclops and his sahuagin surgeon
- 675 XP for obliterating the Catoblepas and its ghast children
- Total: 1763 XP
- Current XP: 45297 XP -> 47060 XP (Level 8)
- (Required for next level: 48000 XP)
Things That Happened
The Receiving Room
- Date: 26th of Tarsakh (The Claw of the Storms, April), evening, 1372 DR
- Octavius conjured Dancing Lights and Diedric cast Light on his shield.
- The party, remembering their three-day fast, quickly ate some rations. Lilia, in Octopus form, ate some fish in a sahuagin net.
- Inspecting the half-flooded chamber lined with purple stones, the party eventually discovered a rail system that allowed six purple slabs to be moved along them. They revealed these rails with pretisdigitation.
- Finding the water distasteful, Lilia equipped a sahuagin pearl bracelet on a tentacle, and enjoyed the salt water taste.
- Thinking better of their illumination plan, Diedric provided the party with darkvision, their eyes glowing silver.
- This room's purpose or origin was not yet understood.
The Processing Chamber
- Lilia swam forward with Smokescale to scout.
- This chamber had three stone slabs in the center, with alcoves surrounding them. The alcolves contained stone slabs, which were either sitting surfaces or tables.
- As she entered, she felt a snap as the tripped a wire under the water, causing a room-sized network of nets to fall from the ceiling, trapping her and Smokescale.
- Diedric's warhammer began ringing in the other room.
- A group of sahuagin warriors, a priest, and several ghouls and ghasts flanked the party. The undead glowed a dark purple.
Encounter: Sahuagin Guard Post
- Highlights:
- Smokescale's head being bitten off by a ghast.
- Octavius falling prey to a Hold Person and falling to the waters.
- Lilia in Octopus form grappling the priest, biting his head with her beak.
- A fireball preventing all three warriors from acting.
The Observation Labs
- The party proceeded into the next room, even more cautious of traps.
- They observed two round chambers, with seating surrounding large stone slabs, barely poking above the water.
- Lilia recognized this as a surgical ward, possibly for study or teaching.
- In the second room's slab, they observed a prone dead cyclops, bearing an interesting set of tattoos on its legs, being operated on by a frail sahuagin priest. He was stiching its rotted intestines when he turned to notice the party, and the cyclops awaked.
Encounter: A Relic From Another Era
- Highlights:
- Diedric channeling divinity to successfully turn the undead Cyclops, causing him to flee down a hallway.
- The priest escaping Lilia's grapple, only for his head to explode from Octavius's crossbow bolt.
- A gutteral bellow from down the hall as the fleeing Cyclops alerted more adversaries.
The Pillar Room
- Barely noting that the next room bore six pillars, one holding a rough stone cube, the party was charged by a dark brown, bloated buffalo, dinosaur, warthog, and hippopotamus hybrid. It had the worst stench you've ever smelled: like bloated, rotting death mixed with swamp gas and skunk musk. A part of its shoulder was missing flesh, showing bone beneath. Undead, likely dredged from the bottom of an ocean.
- Two ghasts, which had been feeding on its rotted milk, joined the fray.
- Lilia shouted a warning about the catoblepas's stench.
Encounter spillover: The Catoblepas
- Highlights:
- The cyclops hurling two stones at Diedric, nearly downing him.
- Lilia being crushed out of octopus form.
- Two ghasts exploding from Turn Undead, and the Catoblepas fleeing, only to return to be eviscerated by Lilia's Spike Growth.
- This combat-heavy session came to an end.
NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)
- None