| Session Date | February 19, 2022 |
| Start Date | |
| End Date | |
| Starting Location | |
| Ending Location | |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 10549 |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
Weary from their interrupted rest and in poor shape, the party made their way towards the outside world. Orion was apparently particularly weary as he had significant trouble opening doors either by picking or kicking them. Fortunately, though, Mordecai had a single find traps spell to help protect him. They had little incident on their way out until running into ten ghouls. Mordecai was able to destroy 7 of them while the re-faced ZZ managed to take control of the other three.
The party finally made it to the outside around midday, where even the winter dun blinded them for a time (and caused the ghouls to quail endlessly, though their compulsion overcame their hatred of sunlight). The party made their way to the large clearing just to the west of the dungeon. They set up a cold camp in the very center of the large clearing, hoping that this position would give them maximum warning of attackers (they desperately needed to rest!). However, before nightfall, a huge black raven appeared, spotted them, and flew down to observe the party more closely. Hans shot it down with a magic missile; Jarrik examined the dead bird and found it had a single gold feather like the ones they’d slain previously.
As dusk fell, the party spotted movement along the distant tree line. Something large was lurking about. The party opted not to act and waited until finally a weird, tree-like creature slowly approached them. It was not a Treant but named itself a Golani. It seemed shy but curious and proved to be friendly. It knew of (and feared) the Wizard Gold. It told the party they would be found where they were by either the ravens or wolves that also patrolled the woods for the wizard. It then offered to take them to a place where they could be safe and rest for a time. It had no love for Gold and seemed pleased the party was there to deal with him.
The creature led him a few miles to the north, eventually climbing to a forested shelf on the north face of a small forest hill. Although wooded, it was clearly maintained in some way, with less undergrowth and a slight, orderly appearance (though not obviously so). Here the Golani, who said its name was Belegrad, also proved to be a skilled healer (it’s tendrils actually entered wounds and reknit them from the inside). The party rested as guest of the tree-creature for three nights, at the end of which they were fully rested and recovered. During this time, the party asked Belegrad if he had any friends that could aid them; he did indeed, and left for much of a day, returning at last with a wood elf druid named Atticus, who offered to joint he party against the Wizard Gold. Later, Orion opted to depart, now that he was free of the dungeon and no longer lost.IN the distance at night, the party heard wolves howl, but the Golani’s home remained safe.
Finally, the party departed with many thanks to the tree creature. They returned to the tombs without incident and made their way to the secret door leading from the ever-marching zombies to the temple of the devil worshipers, who they intended to kill (despite their deal, I might mention). As they prepared for a confrontation, Mordecai cast find traps and Hans cast protection from evil 10’ radius; the latter caused the ghouls and ZZ to back away from him.
Opening the door, Mordecai detected a glyph of warding blocking the way in. There was a debate about getting past it – ZZ refused to use a ghoul to set it off, though most of the ret of the party thought it a better approach than trying (and possibly wasting) a dispel magic. Finally, ZZ relented and sent one in to trip the glyph; it did, survived, and fled in fear, right into a second that killed it. The evil clerics were gone but had left the room full of glyphs. Happily, Mordecai knew where they were and the party was able to mark their locations with chalk on the floor.
With no clerics to kill, the party decided to go relook at the natural caves deeper below, specifically the huge skull embedded in a cave wall and where a long-dead corpse lay. These turned out to be uninteresting (the skull still radiated a strong dread and the party opted to leave it alone)’ a bent and rusty dagger turned out to be no more than it seemed.
The party now decided to kill the lich-like old man and his pet demons who had driven off the party some days previously. The party prepared themselves for the fight, with a silence spell and a minor globe of invulnerability. The lid to the old man’s sarcophagus was tossed aside and Jarrik leapt in atop him to wrestle away his weird rod (and getting shocked in the process); Bel and Hans stabbed at him during this time. When the four Type I Demons appeared once again, Mordecai was almost able to turn them, but ZZ succeeded in compelling 3 of them to his will! With the old man soon dealt with, and the demons’ attack broken with surprising (and lucky) ease, the fight was over very quickly.
However, it had become clear to several in the party that ZZ was acting very unlike himself; becoming quarrelsome, greedy, and having not cast a spell of any sort in days. Fearing the mask of his had turned him evil, and he now had a trio of demons at his immediate command, Burt used the last wish from the Ring of Three Wishes to “life all curses from the party.” This worked, not only restoring ZZ (who had indeed become evil) but lifting a number of other curses from the party (mainly on ZZ and Burt).
Restored and triumphant, the party was in good shape and considered their next action…