Session Eight

***The chanting coming from below is strong enough that you can feel the metal door shake slightly when you touch it. You have the key. You have the door. You have nowhere to go but onward.***

## 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.

## Deeper and Down

The party stood before the door leading down into the sub-basement, steeling themselves for whatever they might find. Dakira passed Tansy the key she had found at the shrine, and as the metal door slid away into the wall, the chanting from down below was finally audible as it repeated again and again: "He is the Ancient! He is the Land!"

Gathering their resolve, the five of them began their walk down the dark and narrow stairway, and they found themselves in another stone room, one with a series of small alcoves carved into the walls, and two doorways set into the western wall, leading away. Each alcove contained a strange item, such as a cloak made of ghoul skin, a thin rope necklace strung with raven talons, and an aspergillum carved from bone.

The party decided to ignore these objects, and instead turned their attention to the two doors. With the volume of the chanting, and the slight echo of the room they were in, they were unable to tell which door it originated from: the one leading into water, or the one leading to another hallway. Tansy and Dakira chose to investigate the watery passage first.

### The Sacrificial Chamber

The chanting stopped as soon as Tansy put a single hoof into the vast chamber. She and Dakira now stood in a massive, flooded room where featureless stone pillars stretched from floor to ceiling, their bases partially hidden from view by the foul water, which stood two feet deep throughout the entire room. Half embedded in the wall just beside the door they stepped through was a wheel with spokes coming from it, and on either side of the door a small set of stairs led up from the water to stone ledges that spanned the length of the room along the northern and southern walls. To the west, on either side of a dark cave heaped with refuse, another pair of stairs led up to the stone ledges. In the very center of the room was a large, octagonal stone dais, raised in such a way as that each lower segment acted as a large stair to climb onto the next one, and these three stairs led to a bloodstained altar at the center of the uppermost part, with large and rusted chains hanging directly overhead.

As Dakira and Kalil began to approach the dais, Alyssandra climbed the stairs to the stone ledges overlooking the chamber to give herself another view, and in doing so managed to find a door carved into the northern wall, and pulled it open. This revealed a long hallway with many small rooms branching off from it, each containing a rusty set of manacles bolted to the wall, the floors still stained with blood. At the far end of the hall she saw a skeleton suspended from the wall, the tattered remains of a black robe clinging to the bones, and spotted something on one of the few remaining finger bones.

Meanwhile, Dakira and Kalil climbed the dais and began to approach the altar. Kalil sprinkles some holy water onto the altar, and it evaporated away. Immediately after, a new chanting began as thirteen dark figures appeared along the stone ledges, their faces hidden in the dark shadows beneath their hoods but still clearly watching the two party members standing on the dais as they chanted "ONE MUST DIE! ONE MUST DIE!" A dagger appeared upon the altar, and the shackles at the ends of the chains hanging from the ceiling swung open, and the party remaining in the watery chamber could barely hear the chains over how loud the chanting was. The party refused them, and Dakira raised her sword, challenging them to face her.

Hearing the chanting, Alyssandra took the ring from the skeleton she had found and hurried back to rejoin the others. She returned just in time to see the figures vanish, though their chanting did not. Instead, the chant changed, growing almost deafening.

### "Lorghoth the Decayer! We awaken thee!"

In the dark cave to the west, something began to stir. Large tendrils slipped through the water, grasping onto the sides of the cave and into the stone floor as a twisted and tangled creature of rot and decay pulled itself forward into the

room, a wave of tainted water surging ahead of it. At the same time, the wheel in the eastern wall spun with an unnatural force, and a portcullis slammed upward from below the water, cutting off the passage they had taken to enter the room. The party readied themselves for a fight as the lumbering monstrousity dragged itself inexorably closer.

The battle was hard fought. The mound brought its full might to bear against them and shrugged off lesser attacks, almost taking down Alyssandra and managing to bring down Dakira. This turned the battle in their favor, however, as the massive creature single-mindedly moved after Dakira as Mirarook continued to pull her body away to safety, allowing the rest of the party to batter away at the monster as it sought out its meal. Just as it began drawing Dakira's body into itself, the final blow was struck, and the creature went down.

Alyssandra went back up the stairs to the door she had found earlier as the rest of the party pulled Dakira free from the limp tendrils and fed her a potion of healing. As she climbed back to her feet, the very foundations of the house shook, sending a cloud of dust and dirt down from the stone ceiling. While the others made sure Dakira was alright, Alyssandra called back to them to say they should get moving, and the party made their way back up the stairs to the main basement area.

## Escape!

Alyssandra led the way back to the shrine and the door she had found earlier, the journey uneventful except for the occasional cloud of dust that shook free from the ceiling. The door was still open, revealing the metal rungs leading upwards.

Climbing the ladder and forcing the door at the top to open, the party found themselves in the den of the first floor with the stuffed wolves, mounted animal heads, and the large, black marble fireplace.

### The Den

The fireplace that was now oozing a black smoke out from inside of it, partially obscuring the rest of the room. At the far end of the room they could see the door was open, and something appeared to be moving there. Dakira attempted to shoot at whatever was in the doorway, but her shot simply flew through the door and landed with a clatter somewhere in the main hall beyond.

Alyssandra moved towards the door, and found that the doorway had been entirely replaced by a set of swinging blades meant to blockade them inside. Holding her breath against the toxic smoke, Alyssandra focused on the trap in front of her, trying to detect a pattern in the swings, and managed to jump through without trouble.

Still inside the den, Kalil attempted to push the smoke back into the fireplace, magically forcing the air around them to clear for a few precious seconds, though more smoke immediately began to fill the room again. Tansy took the opportunity to cast a spell on Dakira and urged her forward towards the door, while Mirarook, who had let her guard down when the air had cleared, took in a lungful of the noxious fumes and began to choke. Mirarook immediately made for the door, twisting forward through the blades and out to the other side, where she took a moment to rest her hands on her knees before pushing herself upright. Right behind her came Dakira, who just managed to duck out of the way of the blades, and could feel the gust of the blades rushing by. Kalil made it through the blades with time to spare, leaving Tansy as the last one out of the room, and using her shield to brace against the blades she too managed to make it into the main hall with the others.

### The Main Hall

This area was also full of the thick smoke that came billowing out of the fireplace to the north, and each set of doors leading away from the main hall had similarly been replaced by swinging blades. Not wishing to stay or examine those rooms, the party instead made for the door leading to the foyer.

Alyssandra once more tried her trick of searching for a pattern in the swinging blades, and once more made it through unscathed. Mirarook, still coughing slightly from the smoke she had inhaled earlier, followed her through and leaned against the wall of the foyer to catch her breath, the air much clearer there.

Behind them, Dakira began to gag, and everyone turned in time to her eyes go wide as she clutched at her throat and began to fall, her body already weakened from the battle in the basement and now succumbing to the smog. She dropped to the floor, unconscious. Kalil began to choke as well, but caught his breath and shouldered past Tansy to leap through the blades, one hand held tightly over his mouth. Tansy knelt beside Dakira and fed her another health potion, and Dakira found herself awake and on the floor. Rolling onto her side, Dakira spotted a gap between the floor and the blades as they swung, and attempted to crawl through beneath the blades. She made it most of the way in before one of the blades caught her tail, the pain and blood loss combining with everything else she had been through to make her black out again.

Tansy raised her shield and rushed through after her, and though she gained a small cut from the blades, made it through otherwise unscathed.

### The Foyer

One final set of blades stood between the party and the exit, and they could see the village just beyond, still partially shrouded in mist.

Alyssandra attempted to time her jump once more, but was slightly off this time. Slightly off was more than enough for the blades, and she felt the blades catch her leg as she jumped through. Kalil raced after her, making it to the other side, but then began to sway, and he dropped to the ground, unmoving, as blood began to trail away from his body. Alyssandra's reaction to this was cut short as she took notice of a woman at the end of the trail leading up to the house who was hammering a signpost back into place with the bottom of a lantern. The woman eventually looked up and, upon seeing Kalil's state, hurried forward with an apology, kneeling to check his pulse.

Mirarook bent down to pick up Dakira's limp body and hefted her up to get a better grip before she lept through the blades, carrying them both to safety, and Tansy once more raises her shield to brace against the blades, and Tansy once more suffered a small cut as she didn't quite make it in time.

All five now having made it outside, the house shook itself and the blades disappeared, leaving behind simple wooden doors as the house fell still once more.

### Freedom?

The party found themselves outside of the house, and staring out at the village they had been in before, though the mist had dispersed, allowing them to see it more clearly.

In front of them, a young human woman stood from where she was kneeling beside Kalil's body, her expression both sympathetic and exhausted. She offered her condolences over Kalil, and offered the group a healing potion to give to Dakira. She introduced herself to the party as Ireena Kolyana, the burgomaster of Barovia, and told them that she could help them move Kalil to the church for a funeral service as well as pay for them at the tavern, as they all appeared in need of a drink at the very least.

## Things Gained

* One Ring of Warmth.
* One dead body.

## Developments

The party killed the Shambling Mound in the sacrificial chamber.

The party escaped Death House.

Kalil died.

The party is at level three.

**[REDACTED]**