26 Longday 508

The night passed without incident and the party awakens refreshed in the chamber of Karak Tuvar in which they camped.

Rilka and Mõrvar work on unsticking the doors while Savaric watches the open door. Surm watches the porters. Eventually, the doors are unstuck and they elect to go through the southern door, which opens into a corridor. In the corridor is another chasm to cross, indicating some sort of seismic shift.

Mõrvar theorizes that the earthquakes may have been caused by some unleashing of great power within the structures. Looking at the multiple chasms that they have encountered, he thinks that either there were multiple earthquakes or the cause of the earthquake was within the settlement. Savaric mentions that the Daggerspine is known to have earthquakes.

They all go to jump over the chasm. Mõrvar, Sum, and Savaric make it across. Next come the porters. Kortash jumps and makes it, but his brother, Burask, nearly misses, and catches the edge with his hands. The others help him scramble up. Rilka jumps and makes it.

The party then comes up to a pile of debris they must climb to move on. Everyone eventually makes their way over the pile, some scratching their armor on the debris in the process. They continue down the corridor.

This corridor is very long and ends at a turn to the north. There is another chasm near the corner. The party secures a rope around them to help in case of falling. Mõrvar makes it across, then Savaric tries. He misses the other side of the chasm, but manages to catch the rope and scramble across. The others then make it across as well.

They head up the corridor, finding no doors or traps, but do find more scratched in demonic faces on the wall. They move on.

This corridor leads up to a door and has another corridor that moves off of it which also ends in a door. Both are askew from their foundations and are not trapped. They work on unsticking them; Savaric in the side corridor and Mõrvar at the end of the long corridor.

After Savaric forces open the door, a Morlock screams and throws himself at the doorway, narrowly missing the ranger. Two are in the doorway, ready to attack Savaric.

Meanwhile, at the end of the long corridor, Mõrvar opens into a large room with murals depicting dwarves mourning their dead. Mõrvar hears the cry of the Morlock attacking Savaric and turns to head that way to help. Surm casts dancing lights into the room to light it up.

One of the Morlocks hits Savaric with a club, while the other tries to bite and misses. Savaric overruns through the doorway, knocking both the Morlocks prone in his wake. This opens up the possibility of Rilka attacking. She swings her falchion at the prone Morlocks. She hits the Morlock mightily with her blade.

The Morlocks rise to attack. Rilka takes the opportunity to attack one of the Morlocks again, felling him with her falchion. Savaric swings at the other and hits. The Morlock then tries to bite Rilka, but fails. Rilka then attacks the Morlock, decapitating him. Mõrvar turns around and heads back to the door at the end of the corridor. He reports the slaughter to his brother.

Savaric then goes and gets Mõrvar and Surm to help search the room that he and Rilka have discovered. The room has murals depicting dwarves in various scenes of family life. Savaric and Surm search the room, finding nothing but the obvious pile of treasure distributed in the various piles of Morlock filth in the room. In amongst the filth, they find thirty gold pieces, 120 silver, a malachite, a piece of pyrite, a sard, a silver comb with an ornate handle, a masterwork heavy wooden shield, two scrolls, and a wand with a suit of armor etched upon it.

Surm casts detect magic on the pile and finds that the scrolls and the wand emanate magic. Surm deciphers one of the scrolls to determine that it is a scroll of Erase. He tries to decipher the other scroll, but fails. He identifies the wand as having conjuration properties, and then ascertains that this is a wand of Mage Armor.

Surm checks the one other door out of this room and determines that it is untrapped, not askew, and unlocked. They decide to go back up to the room where they left Mõrvar. Savaric searches that room and finds nothing of interest. Surm searches as well, but more thoroughly. Nothing of interest is found, but from the archway in the north of the room, movement is heard—bone scraping the stone ceiling. Surm ascertains that it must be the bone tail of a cloaker.

Mõrvar moves in, accompanied by Rilka. Surm hovers at the archway with his crossbow. When Mõrvar gets to the archway, the party hears a moan come from the room. Burask, Surm, and Savaric run in panic from cloaker. Mõrvar and the cloaker face off. The cloaker attempts to bite Mõrvar, but misses. Mõrvar critically hits the cloaker and does a substantial amount of damage. Mõrvar then attacks again and hits, doing a fair amount of damage. The cloaker attacks and misses again. Rilka drops her falchion and picks up Surm’s crossbow. She fires over Mõrvar’s shoulder and hits the cloaker for a modicum of damage. The cloaker bites Mõrvar hard. Savaric runs back into the room, as does Surm. Rilka drops the crossbow and picks up her falchion. Mõrvar critically hits the cloaker for massive damage. The creature falls and then Mõrvar runs it through.

“It bit me!” Mõrvar calls out indignantly.

Savaric looks into the arched doorway. In the next room is a group of desiccated corpses and some other unidentified objects. He also sees movement on the ceiling—it looks like two more cloakers are up there. Savaric goes to shoot, but before he can fire, the cloakers moan. However, Mõrvar and Savaric manage to keep their composure and not vomit in the face of the infrasonic moan. Savaric fires two arrows into a cloaker and moves into the room. Mõrvar moves in and attacks, but misses. Rilka moves into the room and attacks a cloaker, but misses. Mõrvar attacks again and misses. A cloaker then bites Savaric. The other cloaker misses Mõrvar. Savaric fires at his cloaker, felling it with several arrows in its hide. Surm casts Magic Missile at the remaining cloaker, doing a respectable amount of damage. The cloaker bites at Mõrvar but misses. Surm casts another Magic Missile at the cloaker, felling the creature. Mõrvar walks over and runs it through.

Surm and Savaric search through the room, finding nothing but what is obvious in the center of the room, which is filth, desiccated bodies, and loot. There is also a door at the north end of the room. Surm searches it and determines that it is not trapped and it is not askew.

The loot in the center of the room is comprised of 39 gold pieces, 150 silver pieces, an agate, an azurite, a citrine, a fresh-water pearl, a hematite, a lapis lazulie, a malachite, a peridot, a zircon, a masterwork greatsword, two vials, and a scroll.

Surm casts Read Magic on the scroll. It is a scroll of Elemental Aura. One of the vials contains oil of arcane mark. The other contains a potion of reduce person. Surm then casts Detect Magic on the greatsword, but does not detect magic on it.

Rilka goes down into the previous room and checks out the arched doorway to the south and sees that it leads to a short corridor blocked by a chasm. There is a door on the other side of the chasm.

They decide to go back around to the door in which they fought the Morlocks and take the northern door. There they find a room that connects to the corridor with the chasm that Rilka found. In it is a statue of Skondir and murals depicting that god bestowing blessings upon various dwarves. Savaric searches the room and finds nothing unusual. In addition to the door leading to the chasm, there is a door to the north and a door to the south. Savaric checks the door to the north and finds no traps or locks. It opens into a corridor that leads into the room before the cloaker room and also jags toward another door. Savaric checks the southern door and finds that it opens into a long corridor.

They decide to take the northern door from the cloaker room. It leads to a corridor that ends in a door and has another corridor branch off of it. Savaric checks the door while Rilka watches the corridor. The corridor is secured while the door is cleared. Savaric opens the door onto a small room. There is a small circle of upright stones in the center of the room. There are cracks/chasms in the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room. There are also five man-sized crab-like creatures that have taken notice of Savaric in the room. They start crab-walking toward the ranger in the doorway.

Rilka casts Bless. Mõrvar waits for Savaric to move. Surm casts Mage Armor on Mõrvar. A crab-creature attacks Savaric and misses with two claws. Savaric moves back down the hall. Rilka follows. Mõrvar moves back as well, executing a plan to catch the crabs in a bottleneck. Surm moves back down the hall out of the way. The crabs start moving down the hall and one attacks Rilka—which misses mightily with two pinchers.

Mõrvar attacks and hits the crab hard. It falls. Surm casts Magic Missile at the next crab. Rilka waits for the next crab to approach, as does Savaric. It does so and Rilka attacks—it falls.

Savaric fires on the next crab with multiple arrows, missing with some, hitting with others. Rilka attacks and kills it. Mõrvar moves up and attacks the next one, blocking the path. Rilka starts cleaning her falchions. Mõrvar kills the crab and steps up to the final creature coming his way. It attacks and misses. It attacks again and misses. Mõrvar then attacks and hits it critically. It wobbles on its legs, staggered. It then tries one last attack, misses, and falls. Then Mõrvar finishes it off.

Everyone climbs over crab bodies to check out the room. The room has a series a stones covered in dwarven runes in the center of room. Savaric recovers his arrows while Surm deciphers the High Dwarven runes as calling upon the protection of Skondir. Surm and Savaric search the room and find nothing of interest other than the cracks in the floors and the ceiling. Mõrvar asks Rilka if this could be the source of the seismic activity in the ruins. She thinks that this was the source of some seismic activity, but whether it was the source of the all the seismic activity, she couldn’t say.

Mõrvar casts light on a pebble and throws it down into one of the cracks. About a 100 feet down, a filament shoots out from the wall and catches it and sucks it in. It got sucked into a hole in the chasm wall. They decide to leave the room and close the door after speculating on the fate of the dwarves of Karak Tuvar.

The party then take the corridor that Rilka was watching and discover that it leads up into the initial room of Karak Tuvar—the entry room with the mosaic seal of the settlement. They decide to exit the dungeon and recuperate a bit in their camp before going back in to explore some more.

Once in camp, Surm checks in Mahgnus to see how camp has been. Camp has been largely uneventful. Alasir has been keeping guards on rotation. It’s been quiet and they have been just awaiting the party’s return. Surm lets him know that they will be camping this evening, but then they will be going back in in the morning because they have yet to find the journal that they are looking for.

Surm also checks in with Alasir to make sure everything is ship shape and to see if there is anything he has to report that Mahgnus didn’t. There is nothing more to report. The porters unload the party’s loot and the party prepares to relax for the evening.

27 Longday 508

Everyone awakens refreshed and ready for the new day. Surm attempts to decipher the scroll of Cat’s Grace, but cannot. Surm decides to take in the bag of Foaming Powder, just in case.

Concerning the standing stones calling upon the protection of Skondir, Mõrvar speculates that they were most likely erected by priests of Skondir to enact a major communion with that deity.

After discussing their game plan, the party returns to Karak Tuvar and begins exploring once again. They return to one of the rooms that they hadn’t yet explored.

Savaric searches the room and finds nothing of interest. Rilka guards the arched doorway. Looking through the arched doorway, they see another room with a large slate hanging on the north wall. Stone benches line the floor facing the slate. There are three more doors exiting that room. They go into the classroom.

Savaric searches the room, but finds nothing of interest. The doors are not trapped. One is askew but none of them are locked. Savaric sneakily opens one of the doors. He sees a large room with an alcove on the east wall with a balcony. Up on the balcony are two Morlocks. On the floor, near a pile of loot and crap are three more Morlocks. They don’t appear to have noticed Savaric at this time.

Ilona whispers to Savaric that she can help him. Savaric tells the others what he sees. They discuss what they want to do. Savaric sends Victor in. Then Savaric moves in and fires into the balcony. Then Mõrvar charges in. Rilka follows soon after.

Savaric slays a Morlock with two arrows from his bow. Mõrvar attacks one of the Morlocks on the ground while Rilka attacks one of his companions. Surm casts Ray of Frost on the remaining Morlock in the balcony, but misses it. Mõrvar fells his Morlock and carries through his attack to another Morlock, but swings wildly past him. Rilka attacks her Morlock, destroying him, and then attacks the remaining Morlock on the ground, doing a respectable amount of damage to him. The Morlock on the balcony leaps down and rushes Savaric, but misses. The other Morlock attacks Rilka and misses. Savaric draws Edgefrost and attacks the Morlock, hitting him with cold damage. Rilka finishes off her Morlock with a critical hit. Surm casts Ray of Frost again at the Morlock Savaric is fighting and hits it for a modicum of damage. The Morlock misses Savaric with a bite. Mõrvar then attacks the remaining Morlock and finishes it off.

Surm and Savaric search the room, finding only a stash of stuff in amongst the filth in the center of the room. In amongst the filth they find 225 gold pieces, 800 silver pieces, 70 copper pieces, an agate, a hematite, some ivory, a jasper, a rose quartz, a saltwater pearl, a topaz, a carved ivory scroll case containing 3 scrolls, a gold cup with the seal of Karak Tuvar, a silver comb with a gold handle, a silver cup with the seal of Karak Tuvar, a silver hand mirror, a silver holy symbol of Skondir, and a leather-bound book with the seal of Karak Tuvar on the front—the journal that the party has been looking for.

Mõrvar casts Read Magic on the scrolls. They are a scroll of Command, a scroll of Detect Magic, and a scroll of Enlarge Person. Surm attempts to decipher them and can decipher them all but the third one.

The party then decide to start checking out places that they have not already been, so they begin back-tracking and checking out errant hallways and doors. Along they way they have to unstick askew doors and search empty rooms. They find no traps along the way.

Along the way, Mõrvar busts open a door and the party hears the low moan of a cloaker. Surm and the porters flee the scene. Rilka calls out to let her by, but holds her action. Mõrvar tries to bull rush the cloaker, but fails. Savaric fires on the cloaker. with whistling arrows, through Rilka and Mõrvar. He misses with one, but hits with the other. Then the cloaker envelopes Mõrvar and then attempts, but fails, to bite him. Rilka then moves forward and attacks the cloaker and misses twice.

The cloaker attempts to bite Mõrvar again, but can’t penetrate his Mage Armor. Savaric fires on the cloaker and does damage to both the cloaker and to Mõrvar. Mõrvar touches the cloaker, casting Chill Touch on it. Rilka holds off on her attack.

Mõrvar drains another point of strength from the cloaker while Savaric holds off on his attack. Rilka holds off. Surm runs back, no longer under the affect of the cloaker’s moan. The cloaker misses Mõrvar again.

The cloaker bites Mõrvar, finally. Mõrvar drains another point of strength from the cloaker. Savaric and Rilka continue to hold off. Surm tells Savaric to touch the cloaker with Edgefrost to do the cold damage while Surm cast Ray of Frost—Mõrvar is unaffected by the cold damage due to his undead heritage. Savaric touches the cold sword to the cloaker as directed.

Surm casts Color Spray from a scroll at the cloaker. A vivid cone of clashing colors emerges and stuns the cloaker, causing it to drop Mõrvar. Mõrvar attacks the cloaker and fells it. He then runs the creature through. He then kicks it and spits on it. “I told you I’d kill you if you bit me,” he says.

There are corpses of past adventurers in the center of the floor, as well as loot, including two masterwork longswords, a suit a chainmail, a vial, and a scroll.

Surm casts Detect Magic on the items and determines that one of the swords, the suit of chainmail, the vial, and the scroll are magic. The scroll is a scroll of Draconic Reservoir. The vial is a potion of Shield of Faith.

There are also 217 gold pieces, 113 silver pieces, 57 copper pieces.

Mõrvar searches the room and finds nothing else but filth. Savaric searches the room and finds nothing else of interest.