Session Six

***Though you have not - cannot - forget your circumstances, some of the weariness and tension has left you as you sat in the dark, listening to Dakira's music. Beyond the slabs of rock, Kalil is keeping watch, and though he has heard the sounds of things shuffling and stirring in the darkened corridors beyond his vision, you have been undisturbed this whole while.***

## The Party

* Alyssandra, the Human Paladin/Warlock.
* Dakria, the Dragonborn Bard.
* Kalil, the Half-Elf Sea Sorcerer.
* Mirarook, the Half-Orc Monk.
* Tansy, the Tiefling Light Cleric.

## Exploration

The party climbed out of the crypts and back into the cramped halls of the basement, talking over what they had been through so far and what they might do as they progress further into the basement. Tansy and Mirarook suggested that they could try to put the other undead here to rest, as there were tombs for the mothers, but Alyssandra doubted they would go willingly, and Dakira said they would be putting them to rest one way or another.

Moving back into the dining hall, the five of them took a moment to decide which route to take from there: the exit to the north, or the exit to the west. With the terrible smell coming from the western hall, they chose the northern one, following the passage to a set of stone stairs leading downward, first to a balcony which opened westward onto another passageway, and then further down to a much larger room.

As they were looking for a way further down into the basement, the party decided to descend the stairs to the room below.

### Cultist Quarters

At the bottom of the stairway, the party found themselves in a large, dark room. All along the walls of the room were smaller, doorless rooms, each holding only a single bed and a single wooden chest. Another set of stairs in the south-east corner led upwards to parts unknown. At the center of the room was a mold-covered stone well, with a rotten wooden bucket suspended over it by a frayed rope.

Alyssandra hung back as the others cautiously searched the chests inside the rooms, where they found a number of items such as a silvered dagger, money, and an ivory hairbrush. When they were done, the party regrouped at the well with their newly aquired items. Tansy briefly considered trying to climb down and explore the old well, though Alyssandra talked her out of it, after which Tansy offered Kalil the eyepatch she had found, as he might be able to use the gemstone worked into it for his spells. Kalil took it as the gem was pretty, offering his thanks. Mirarook offered him the bag of gemstones she had found if he apologized to Tansy for his behavior earlier regarding the children. Kalil refused.

Sighing at the three of them, Alyssandra began walking towards the stairs they had come down moments before, ready to move on. The rest of the party soon followed after her.

### A Cautionary Tale

As the group began to walk back up the stone stairs, they noticed that as they passed the corridor to the west the ominous chanting sounded louder than elsewhere in the basement. Deciding this was the right way to go, though concerned about what they might find at the end of the trail, they agreed to take this turn, with Dakira leading the way down the hall.

As she was in the lead, she was the one to fall victim to the ancient pit trap dug into the floor, the rotten wooden planks immediately breaking under her weight, sending her plunging through the floor. Fortunately, the wooden spikes at the bottom were also rotten and also broke under her weight, leaving her scuffed and shaken, but mostly unharmed, though also trapped at the bottom of a ten foot deep stone shaft. With the help of Tansy, Mirarook, and a rope, Dakira climbed out of the pit, where - with very different degrees of affection - Alyssandra and Tansy told her to be more careful.

With this route now collapsed out from under them, the party debated whether they should try jumping across the pit, or getting a bed or table to lay across it, though Alyssandra pointed out that there was another set of stairs down this hall, leading upwards, and so likely another way around. She suggested returning to the dining hall and taking the western hall that they had not taken before.

### A Ghoulish Encounter

Kalil led the way back to the dining hall, though he stopped before entering the western passage, motioning the others ahead. Alyssandra, just behind him, stepped ahead and into the narrow corridor, with the rest following behind. She came out at a crossroads, the hall splitting off into three other directions. Before she could examine them further, or relay this to those still behind her who could not see this, the sound of movement and snarling caught her attention, and she found herself thoroughly distracted by the appearance of three twisted, decaying figures approaching from the end of each of the separate corridors.

The ensuing battle was a complicated one, as the cramped space and number of people already at the entry to the crossroads made it difficult to manuever or strike at most of the enemies. Tansy's quick use of ***Turn Undead*** sent the ghoul to the north fleeing down the stairs and down the hall, where it fell into the pit Dakira had fallen into earlier, while the other two were finished off by Alyssandra and Mirarook.

Deciding to ignore the one that had fallen into the pit, the five moved beyond the hall and fully into the crossroads area as they tried to decide which way to go.

### A Lock, A Key?

Finding that the hall to the south led to another large, dark room, the hall to the west went on before turning away elsewhere into the basement, and knowing the eastern path would lead them back to the dining hall, the party took the northern option, with Mirarook leading the way down the stone staircase. To her right, she saw the pit, and to her left was another set of carved stairs leading further down. The chanting here was so loud that, while still mostly unintelligible, it left no doubt that they were on the right track.

Unfortuantely, as she and the others walked down the stone stairwell, she discovered that there was a locked door barring the way, leaving the party unable to continue. They questioned if they had seen a key in their exploration of the basement, though no one could remember seeing any keys so far. Recalling a similar situation earlier in the house, Mirarook asked Alyssandra if she could send her raven to look for a key again. Alyssandra agreed to try, asking Merletta if she would see if she could find anything. The raven took flight back up the stairs to the south towards the crossroads and moving out of sight as the party waited for her return.

   After a few moments, Alyssandra felt a note of success along her bond with Merletta, which abruptly changed to one of alarm before the bond was suddenly severed.

At the news that something killed her, the party grew alarmed. Tansy attempted to offer her sympathies and that Alyssandra could summon her again, as she had back at the crypt. Alyssandra brushed them off, saying that the more pressing concern was that something had killed Merletta, and none of them could be sure what it was or where she had been since Alyssandra hadn't been looking through their bond.

### In Shadow

As they spoke between each other, the shadows cast by Dakira's flickering ***Light*** grew more dense, and tendrils of darkness pulled free from the walls and floor to attack. As the five of them fought the animated shadows, Alyssandra called upon her extensive training to advise the others, warning them about their resistance to mundane attacks and weapons, among other details. Dakira, remembering the silvered dagger she had found in one of the chests, used it to strike out at the shadows. Mirarook, having neither magic nor magical weapons, endured the deeply uncomfortable sensation brought on by bare-skin contact with them.

Summoning a bolt of divine energy, Tansy managed to completely obliterate one of the patches of unnatural, shifting shadows. Below her on the stairs, a mass of darkness rose up and took Kalil down in one blow, and he dropped to the ground, his figure eagerly swarmed by flickering shadows, partially obscuring him from the rest of the party. While Tansy managed to stablize him, the others took down the remaining enemies, leaving the party with one unconscious member, a locked door, and the question of where Merletta had been when she found the key.

## Things Obtained

* 11 gp and 60 sp in a pouch made of human skin. The gold and silver coins are both stamped with the profile of a man; the one on the silver coins is not the same as the man on the gold coins, though they do look similar.
* Three gemstones in a folded piece of black cloth. One is an amber, one is a moonstone, and one is a jade.
* A black leather eyepatch with a design of an eye etched into it, a carnelian sewn into place as the pupil.
* An ivory hairbrush with silvery bristles and a tarnished silver mirror worked into the back.
* A silvered dagger with a wavy blade and a solid black pommel.

## Developments

The party found many items.

Dakira was the first of the party to find a trap.

Tansy used ***Turn Undead*** for the first time.

Mirarook and Alyssandra got the killing blow on enemies twice.

The party found the door down to the lower levels, but it is locked.

The party sent Merletta to find the key to the door, which she did, and was killed by something immediately after.

Kalil was downed and drained of his strength by the shadows.