In the last hour of the trek across the Barrowmoor, a light rain began to fall, the overcast sky growing darker as the first drops began to pelt the swampland. Tamson had warned of the rain’s coming, his certainty echoed by Dax Moonblade. Even Ranger, Sir Dryvyk’s newly acquired guard dog had proven true to his namesake, gazing up at the gray blanket of clouds and whining.

The adventuring company was able to reach their campsite dampened, but not drenched, the brewing storm not having found its strength as yet. They were joined by two new additions to their number: Lander, an elven warrior and sorcerer and Ynes, a former woman-at-arms from Ironguard Motte.

Ol’ Gib immediately set about the work of erecting the camp while Sir Dryvyk’s new retainer, Andryr, and Kraomar established a picket to border it. Searlait made her way inside the open crypt, scouting the shadowy, columned chamber before examining the pulley and feeding a fresh rope into it.

The female mercenary returned to report to the adventurers in short order. ”It doesn’t appear that the pulley’s been tampered with since we were last here.  No new tracks in the upper crypt. I didn’t hear anything from below while I was in there.”

The pattering of the rain grows louder, the wind groaning as it crosses the ancient collection of tombs.

Once more away from the city of men and before the barrow of once men (and beast men), Barnabus considers the way to go once they had descended. There was that gargoyle guarding a family crypt, an unclaimed urn in the treasury, and, well, more than a few temptations to the south.

"We should turn north at the first opportunity. It is best to turn away from temptation," he advocates with a modicum of conviction -- likely the only time he will be able to muster it the whole of this expedition.

Even more preternaturally spry than before, the cleric of Impurax nearly bounds over to the crypt entrance and then down the rope.

Take the first left down the hall from #1.

After reaching the lower chamber, Lampert is quick to light a torch, dispelling the deeper shadows of the company’s surroundings.

Venturing eastward, the party hears the tomb’s silence broken by a distant burst of shrill, maniacal laughter, which lasts only a matter of moments before being swallowed up by the suffocating quiet.

Turning left at the first opportunity, the adventurers file down a vacant corridor which travels northward for thirty feet before reaching a single stone door. The portal is neatly engraved with the symbol of a longbow, beneath which are two lines of elvish script.

The dwarf waits for one of the elves to read their flowery words before he begins his inspection of the door.

Rain? Tombs? Pulleys? Always expect the unexpected...

A door bearing the mark of a longbow and lines of elvish script was also unexpected, and Lander stepped past Ishmael (with a glance to the dwarf) to decipher the words.

Dax halts the column of explorers as the stone door, "There's some elvish words inscribed here," he says before reading them out aloud.

Sir Dryvyk conversed with Ol' Gib from time to time as they returned to the moors. The old veteran communicated mostly with grunts and snorts, his mood matching the weather, but somehow the young knight seemed to understand exactly what was being said and kept a cheerful disposition despite it all.

There were two new additions he'd brought to the expedition. The first was a tall, shaggy brown dog named Ranger. The creature was a mutt, a real frontier hound made of raw bones packed with stringy muscle and wrapped with a thick hide. The dog had large feet which would certainly help him in the swampy lands they were returning to. He wore a worn leather collar studded with rusty spikes. If it didn't deter another creature from biting his neck, it would certainly kill said creature from lockjaw, eventually. Ranger and Ol' Gib seemed to hit it off well, both dour and saying little. Whisker twitches by both served their purposes.

The second was a large, stout, younger fellow named Andryr. Sir Dryvyk had outfitted him with his old sword and shield, having recently acquired the accouterments of the Order of Night. Lessons had already begun regarding the care of Dryvyk's gear as well as combat. Ol' Gib directed them both from time to time in the latter, drawing upon his lifetime of experience.

When they arrived at camp, Sir Dryvyk gave Ol' Gib his rein, letting him do what he knew best. "I think I'll take Andryr down with us on this trip. Lampert could use a little looking after, and last time I had my hands quite full."

Turning to the new recruit, a future squire perhaps, Sir Dryvyk said, "You'll come down with us. Your job is to protect the torchbearer there, his name is Lampert. Leave any heavy fighting to those of us with more experience, you keep Lampert safe, understand?"

~~~

Once below, the feeling of befoulment swept over the young knight again, firming his resolve anew to cleanse the crypts of evil taint.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Mon 23 May 2022.

Both Lander and Dax are able to decipher the carefully rendered words:

”Here lies Nildeyr, defender of the Thornswild and friend to elves”

Malivoire certainly perked up at the mention of the Thornswild. "What did you say the name was, Dax?  Nildeyr?" The elven mage put a fist to his mouth and scrunched his brow in concentration, trying to recall anything he might know about an elven defender of his homeland.

"At the very least, we must remain respectful of this tomb," he said, while continuing to scrabble through his memories.

When, for a second time, the expedition's entrance into the Barrowmaze had been greeted by a
Barnabus wonders if they would hear that cachinnation again and again were they to loop in and out repeatedly.


"Assuredly," Barnabus assures the elf. "Anything we remove from this tomb we will return after we have ..." Here he pauses to infuse his voice with the proper level of righteousness: "after we have cleansed the crypts of evil taint." It's just the sort of thing a paladin would have said were he to have shared his thoughts.

Into the tomb, then.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Mon 23 May 2022.

The elvish words translated, Ishmael examines the door itself, finding no evidence of any manner of trap on or around it.

Pushing open the stone door, the adventurers find themselves gazing into a twenty by twenty foot chamber. It is completely empty. The gray walls are unadorned and the floor is made up of neatly cut slate colored flagstones, each one five square feet in size.

Directly ahead, in the center of the chamber’s northern wall is another stone door which is bereft of markings.

Before crossing the threshold, Dax calls out, [Language unknown: A a Ameul Ententersrea m era Nceainectsonlin esiswh.]

If there is no response, he nods to Dryvyk and steps into the room.

---

I'm assuming Dryvyk is in the front rank with Dax as Ynes has not yet joined?

Ynes grips her battle axe tightly as she follows Dax into the empty chamber. ”This is strange,” she mutters, ”Perhaps tomb robbers have already visited here and picked the place clean.”

Before they make a proper entrance, Barnabus retrieves four hefty stones from his pack and tosses one each on four flagstones that would lead them across the room. He had stored the stones there, perhaps even unbeknownst to himself, for just such a purpose.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:18, Wed 25 May 2022.

The first two stones that Barnabus tosses into the room strike the floor with a clatter, the sound seemingly made louder by the silence that fills the crypt. The third stone reaches the flagstone in front of the northern doorway. When it lands, those near the company’s front ranks see the square of slate colored rock it hits visibly depress, sinking an inch or two into the floor.

An instant later a stone wall drops from the ceiling above, landing with an impact that sends a tremor through the floor, the noise reverberating through the quiet.

With the wall's abrupt descent, the chamber has become effectively half of its previous size, now twenty by ten feet. The new wall appears entirely solid, with no openings visible upon it. From behind it, the adventuring can hear the muffled sounds of some manner of activity, a rush of hasty movements, but they cannot discern enough to guess at the source of the muted noise.