Session 05: Beneath the City of the Dead

After following a trail laid out on a mysterious map with no name, the party found that each bounty had lured them closer and closer to the City of the Dead.

## Summary

### Arriving at the City of the Dead

Chomp, Kados, Thrask and Viego bid their carraige driver, Bellweather, farewell as he dropped them off outside the City of the Dead. The City of the Dead contained rolling grass areas, public parks and all of Waterdeep's cemeteries and grave sites. Night had fallen on the party after roaming around the gravel paths of the City of the Dead. The adventurers happened upon a half-elf who gave them directions to the statue and mausoleum the party saw in the painting at The Crimson Brush.

The party made their way to the Lord's Respite area and took the western path until they approached an area surrounded by hedges and guarded by the City Watch. Beyond the guards, the party saw the statue of Piergeiron and a mausoleum behind him.

### Looking for Clues

The party was able to enter the hedged area without issue and approached the mausoleum which read "Gost" next to its metal doors. The mausoleum was exceptionally bare.

Chomp wanted to inspect the statue in the middle of the area but was stopped by a Watch officer. Chomp was able to persuade the officer into leaving the adventurers alone. The Watch officer admitted that he and the other officers stationed there were only on high alert because many groups of vandals had recently disturbed the Gost mausoleum and the surrounding graves.

While Chomp and Thrask inspected the statue, Kados and Viego distracted the guards outside of the area by loudly proclaiming that Kados lost his feathered hat. Chomp and Thrask were able to find a lever hidden in the folds of the statue's robes. The lever allowed the party to reveal a hatch underneath the statue, a horrible stench could be noticed from it. Before the hatch could be opened, a dwarf approached Thrask and told him to cover the hatch.

#### A Sheepish Encounter

The dwarf was named Adhamh, he was a gravekeeper and shepherd in the City of the Dead. He offered to show the party a safer entrance to the area underneath the statue without being seen by the guards. Adhamh only asked that the party help him uncover what beast had been attacking his sheep in the night.

The party was led to a dismembered sheep from which they were able to track down a wolf-dog with blood all over its mouth. Thrask was able to keep the wolf-dog calm while Chomp prepared a spell to commune with the animal. The party learned that the wolf-dog had not been attacking Adhamh's sheep and was only hunting small game to feed her pups.

Shortly after, a group of ghouls approached the party and the wolf pups, bearing hungry grins. The party was able to defeat the ghouls and avenge Adhamh's sheep.

#### Entering The Tomb

Adhamh showed the party a secret tunnel behind the hedges which led them to a wooden door set into a worked stone wall at the end of the natural tunnel.

### The Skeleton Cavalry

The adventurers opened the wooden door to a coffin-shaped chamber housing two sarcophagi. As the party pressed further into the chamber they saw a group of five skeletal horsemen moving in a circle at the center of the room. The horsemen patrolled the room directly between two doors.

Kados used his powers of thaumaturgy to open both doors. Each time he did this, the horsemen drew their blades and positioned themselves around the doors. The party attempted to funnel the horsemen into a doorway but ended up being cornered between the horsemen and a pit trap filled with ghouls.

Chomp revealed his ability to wild shape by turning into a spider. In his spider form he found the hatch underneath the statue. The party was able to cross the ghoul pit trap with the help of Chomp in his spider form and escaped through the hatch.

The adventurers returned to the chamber using the secret tunnel and successfully sneaked past the skeletal horsemen.

### Unfinished Business

The party continued through the halls of the tomb until they were met by the ghost of an adventurer named Perdita. Perdita had entered the tomb with a group of adventurers following a treasure map and met her end after encountering a rat creature. One of her adventuring companions was her sister Suri, Perdita offered to show the adventurers through the tomb if they could confirm if Suri had survived the tomb or if she had met the same fate.

#### Search for Suri

The party agreed to help and Perdita revealed a secret door to the chamber where she met her fate. Perdita told the adventurers to look for Suri's sun pendant which matched the moon pendant around Perdita's neck. The party moved beyond the secret door to a hallway containing the bodies of adventurers, one of which appeared to be a wererat. Viego and Kados searched through piles of rubble and bodies while Chomp and Thrask pressed forward to a heavy stone door at the end of the hallway.

Chomp and Thrask encountered a woman afflicted with Rat Pox while Kados and Viego released a torrent of rats that rushed the adventurers. Chomp was able to weave a web trap with his remaining time as a spider which slowed the swarms of rats down as the party disposed of the rabid creatures.

Suri revealed that she had become afflicted with Rat Pox after one of her adventuring companions turned on her and the rest of her party. She revealed the treasure map that she had been following to reach the tomb, it had the same glyph as the one our adventurers had been following but the route was completely different from the one they followed.

When the party revealed that Perdita's ghost was roaming the tomb to find Suri, the Rat Pox afflicted adventurer offered her necklace to the party so that they could tell Perdita that she was dead. Suri could not let her rat-fearing sister know what had truly become of her.

#### Returning to Perdita

The party returned Suri's pendant to Perdita, giving the fallen adventurer a sense of closure. Before Perdita's spirit vanished from the tomb, she told the adventurers that there was no treasure at the end of their journey. The only thing waiting for the adventurers was their death at the hands of a powerful creature that has become increasingly disturbed and annoyed by the influx of adventurers entering his tomb.

Perdita insisted that if the adventurers press forward that they could get on the creature's good side by rooting out the source of the false treasure maps, doing so would avenger Perdita and Suri's memory. She then revealed another secret door that opened up to a hallway to the tomb's owner.

### Meeting the Baron

The adventurers moved forward to an empty chamber. They stopped to proclaim their intentions to not try and claim any treasure but help seek out those who have been making maps leading to the tomb.

After a moment, one of the walls in the chamber swing open, revealing a man wearing black leather armor holding a wolf on a chain leash. The black leather-clad man told the adventurers to follow him. He led them through a long hallway to a large chamber with a heavy iron door set into one of its walls.

The man stepped to the side, motioning for the adventurers to move forward. As they moved into the room he said "The baron would like to see you."

## Player Characters

* **Chomp** the shifter druid
* **Kados** the tiefling sorcerer
* **Thrask** the lizardfolk ranger
* **Viego** the human kensei

## Non-Player Characters

* **Adhamh**, a male dwarf gravekeeper and part-time shepherd in the City of the Dead.
* **Bellweather**, a male human carriage driver of Waterdeep.
* **Marmaduke**, the female tabby cat companion of Chomp.
* **Perdita**, the ghost of a female human adventurer that met her fate in a tomb underneath the City of the Dead.
* **Suri**, a female human adventurer that became afflicted with rat pox while searching for treasure in the City of the Dead.