Are you my Mummy?

With Naked Dave Leading the way, everyone started down the path to free the prisoners that Dave mentioned before.  He warned everyone of a pit trap that was in the hallway they had to go through, but unfortunately Donni slipped off of the very thin legde and fell into the pit.  After fishing her out of the pit and getting to the double doors at the end of this hall Dave warned everyone not to touch anything in the next room.

Upon entering the room they saw that this room was an ancient crypt that had three sarcophagi, One of which was much more ornate than the others.  There were also a few skeletons strewn across the floor.  Dave approached one of the other doors in the room and told everyone to let him enter first to convince the guards to stand down.

Dave entered and despite the quite snickers of the guards, Jack and Jill, he convinced them that if they wanted to live that they shouldn’t mess with these cold blooded killers (at least that’s how he saw you guys).  Jass and Donnie ordered Jack and Jill to strip as well and had them all sit against the back wall.  In the room there were two prison cells on either side of the room.  One cell held two women and the other held a young boy.  The boy was sitting on the ground weeping into his knees hiding his face.  Aellora used one of the Iron keys that had been found before and found that it unlocked the cells as well as the collars around the prisoners necks, but the boy would flee when ever anyone came near him.  One of the women stepped forward, to say that she was his mother and that he had been through a lot, so Aellora give the key to the mother and she was able to unlock his collar and embrace him to calm him down.

The mother thanked the group for freeing them and offered them information about where they could find an Emerald Necklace in the Ruined City of Thundertree.  They said it was an old family heirloom that they had abandoned when the nearby volcano erupted and they there were pretty certain that no one would have found it because the city was consumed by the strange ashy zombies, and the dragon that has moved in since.  However before getting the actual location where the necklace could be found in Tundertree they sent the family away with Naked Dave to get them out of the way of the dangerous stuf they were about to do.

With the family gone the party started openly discussing how to take anything valuable from the tomb without needing to fight the skeletons Dave warned them about.  Some of them wanted to throw jack and/or Jill on the skeletons to they would take the brunt of the attack, but other protested.  Jill tried to make a run for it, but was struck down by Grok and Jass as she ran past them.  Finally Bubbles drew up his staff and smacked one of the skeletons.

The first skeleton was taken out quickly, but then one of the others let loose an unearthly shriek and the ornate sarcophagus opened to reveal a Mummy.  much of the groups attention then turned to the Mummy as Jass yelled “Kill it with fire,” (but for some reason noone used any fire attacks against it).  upon meeting the Mummy’s glare Donnie became so terrified that she was paralysed with fear.  the Mummy raised a warpick in the air and began to swing at Kuro, but at the last moment Grok stepped between them blocking the mighty blow with his shield.

As the fight raged on the Mummy shrugged of many of the attacks thrown at it and the skeletons fell one by one.  The Mummy’s next attack came when he raised his free hand and struck Grok and imparting the Mummy’s curse upon him, and his body visible frailed at the touch of the Mummy.

At the sight of Grok’s weakening state Jass in a great fury chopped off the Mummy’s arm and Kuro, who had just recently been saved from the Mummy’s attack by Grok swung his warhammer with all his might and brought it down upon the Mummy’s head with so much force that it sent the Mummy’s head all of the way through its body and out the other side.

As the Mummy fell, its spirit rose from the body, and addressed Grok.  This was the spirit of Grok’s ancestor Varden Trensendar.  He imparted the tale of his demise as he had been poisoned by his brother Aldith, who has a terrible temper and never let his enemies live to survive attacking him.  Varden had accidentally struck Aldith while in a battle, and from that day on Aldith had obviously held a grudge against Varden.  Varden did not realize until it was too late that it was not simple grudge and Aldith had secretly been poisoning him.

Varden eventually died from the poisoning and at his funeral Aldith tore out the final pages of Varden’s journal (where Varden voiced his suspicions that Aldith was somehow responsible for his illness) and hid them in Varden’s Sarcophagus.  He also cursed Varden’s soul to be an undead slave to guard the Manor.  Unfortunately, this all occurred shortly before a massive orc horde swept through the region and destroyed all of Old Phandalin.  If only Varden was able to participate in the battle… maybe the tide would have turned.

After telling all of this history to the party Varden’s spirit noticed that Grok was wielding Talon.  Aldith’s sword that is now cursed with his vengeful spirit.  Varden released a beam of energy and broke the bond that compelled Grok to keep Talon.  Gork then took Varden’s Warpick, “Raptor,” and the rest of the party did some looking around and found a small armory taking just a couple of goods that they wanted and leaving the rest.

They returned to town where the first order of business was getting some much needed rest.  Jass and Donni Shared a room, Grok and Bubbles shared another, and Zinda, Aellora and Kuro shared a thrid.  Bubbles did some research on the journal that Grok has been carrying, and attuned to Glasstaff’s Staff which turned out to be a Staff of Defense.  Grok attuned to Raptor which turned out to be a Warpick of Warning.  In the morning everyone awoke to find themselves feeling a bit stronger and more Level 3ish.

Aellora used her new found spellcasting skills to Identify the Robe that had been found in the pool near the cellar’s main entrance, and discovered that it was a Robe of Useful Items.  Zinda took the robe (probably because everyone else thought that it looked a little tacky with all of the patches).

Meanwhile, Jass snuck out in the morning carrying Talon to see if the local Cleric to see if anything could be done to remove the curse from the sword.  She revealed that Remove Curse is not strong enough to remove the evil spirit held within Talon and that it would need to be Banished.

Aellora decided that she wanted to head back to Lionsheild Coster to upgrade to some Studded Leather Armor, however she accidentally offended Linene, the shop owner, by confusing her to be a man.  Linene then demanded a higher than market value price for the armor, which Aellora protested, so Linene proposed an Archery competition.  They went out to Linene’s range and they each took their shots.  Aellora’s first shot was quite good, but Linene split Aellora’s arrow.  Linene suggested a tie breaker, and Aellors asked for an Arrow from Linene’s supplies, and Linene tried to hand Aellora a mangled piece of wood that could barely be called an arrow.  Aellora rejected this arrow and took her next shot, which as a good shot, but then Linene drew back and hit the target so hard that she knocked the whole target over.  Aellora begrudgingly accepted the inflated price for the Studded Leather Armor and left the shop.

As Aellora left the Shop Bubbles entered and told Linene all about the armory they found in the Manor and even gave her a map.  Linene thanked him for the tip and offered not reward for this information.  Bubbles then asked for a reward and Linene told him that he needs to work on his business skills and bid him adieu.  Bubbles insisted that she pay him and threatened to have the rest of the group attack her men.  Linene was amused by the little gnomes bravery, so she decided that she would be kind to the little guy and give him 100 GP for his information.

Meanwhile Jass and Grok went to the Shrine of Luck once more so Sister Garaele could sttempt to remove the Mummy’s curse from Grok.  For her serviced Sister Garaele asked for 30 GP.  Jass offered her the Jewled eye patch she took from Mosk as payment, but it still wasn’t quite enough, so they still had to pay 5 GP along with losing the Jeweled Eyepatch.   The Mummy’s Curse was lifted from Grok and he felt much stronger again.

The Party all met back up again and went into the Townmaster’s Hall to collect on his offer of a reward to get rid of the Redbrands.  He payed the adventurers for their efforts and once again reminded the party that he would like the Orc Treat taken care of while shooting some dirty looks to Grok.  Everyone said that they would consider it. and tried to negotiate a higher price than what he had offered, but he was quite firm on his price.

After leaving the townmaster’s hall, everyone decided to go to the Miner’s exchange following a tip that they had gotten that they might be able to provide the group with some maps of the area.  This transaction went smoothly and they were on their way.
The thought occurred to several party members that with most of the locations they have been pointed towards being a couple of days hike away that it could be wise to get some mounts to speed up travel.  Jass really wanted a Pony.  Zinda was able to use a couple of patched from her new robe to get herself a horse and a pair of Mastiffs one of which she gave to Bubbles to ride on…. and we kinda faded out of play for the night.

```
Prev: Glasstaff's Chambers                                           Next: On the Road Again

```