[Assuming we go ahead with the grappling hook idea...]

Malivoire accepted the grappling hook and rope with a somewhat dubious look, but dutifully rocked the iron grapple back and forth a few times to try and get a sense of the heft.  After issuing a bit of a warning, "Maybe just stand back a bit?", he swung the hook in a circle twice and then cast it into the room, where it landed near the table and skittered across the floor until coming to rest just beyond a leg of the table.  Malivoire gently dragged on the rope and to his pleasant surprise the hook snagged firmly on the target.  Now they just had to drag the thing back toward the doorway.

The elven mage looked around at the others with surprise on his face, as if to say "Who knew?".

OOC:
10:47, Today: Malivoire rolled 21 using 1d20+2.  Grappling hook throw.  If Bless still active, increase to 22.  If short range bonus applies, increase to 23.  Pretty lucky throw, all around!  :)

The table does not prove to be particularly heavy. With a few careful tugs, Malivoire is able to pull it over to the doorway without disturbing its contents. The wood appears slightly warped by age and moisture, but the piece of furniture is otherwise nondescript.

The knives and sword each show signs of heavy use, the blades somewhat dulled and bloodstained. Carved on the upper left corner of the table is the crude representation of a ram’s skull.

Entering the chamber, neither Dax nor Dilemma prompt any reaction from anything unseen within. The chamber is as it initially appeared: unoccupied. Dilemma observes that the collection of rags have been used to absorb blood. Dax notices that the pail is filled with what appear to be scalps, most of them human.

Relieved, Barnabus gathers the knives and short sword off of the top of the table for later presentation to their patron -- along with the table itself, he decides, the mark of Orcus catching his attention. It was as they had thought: this room was a preparation chamber and was intimately connected with the funereal practices of the cultists of a god of death. Why it was kept secret when the room next door was not, he does not know.

To the surprise of those assembled, he leaves the pail of scalps be.

Gathering the others around him, the dark priest explains that there is one "last thing" to do before they hasten back to Helix.

"Dax and Ynes," he asks, turning to them, "please try to bring the demonic statue out of the Barrowmaze. If it starts to burn with unholy fire, turn around and bring it back to the crypt. We can always figure something out later."

As part of the plan, he will retrieve the "bone of silence" (from wherever he had left it) so that the scraping of the statue along the stonework won't draw wanderers.

Then back to Helix.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Fri 30 Dec 2022.

Dax visibly gags at the sight of the scalps in the pail. "The level of depravity...is beyond words!

Barnabus, are you sure you don't want to take these to be interred by the priest of St. Ygg?"

Regardless of the answer, Dax does not pick up the pail.

"You think the statue might suit Mazzahs garden?

If it starts to burn you can be sure we will drop it and leave it where it lies!"

Only silence accompanies the adventure as they cross the corridor back to the necromancer’s crypt. The dark chamber is just as it was when they exited it a short time ago.

The statue remains in its place, the faint crimson illumination still casting a faint glow around the hideous figure. Approaching it once more, the explorers can feel warmth emerging from the demonic sculpture, the shift in temperature readily perceptible in the midst of the prevailing cold of the catacombs. Touching the statue, however, does not elicit discomfort. The sensation is more akin to picking up a stone which has sat under the sun’s warmth for a number of hours.

The curate reconsiders, "No, but we should burn them and then bury the ashes."

Contemplating the seemingly sun-warmed statue, Barnabus remembers the four silken gloves, the ones embroidered with fangs, specifically that their special qualities might be called for in the transport of this statue. He gives one to Dax, two to Caine, and the last one to Ynes, advising her and Caine to bind the unprotected hands in wrappings.

Then, he steps a careful distance away from the movers.

Give pail to Lambert to carry out of the BM.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Fri 30 Dec 2022.

Lampert carries the pail with grim resignation, refusing to look down at its contents, focusing instead on ensuring that his lantern his held aloft to provide adequate illumination as the party reenters the necromancer’s crypt.

[Posted by Labyrinth Lord]

Donning the gloves provided by Barnabus, Caine positions himself near where the statues center will be, once it is tipped over, readying himself to bear the weight and to assist as the stone figure is lowered.

Placing the single glove on her right hand, Ynes moves to the spot where she estimates the statue’s head will be. Looking to Dax, she nods, indicating that she is ready for the ranger to tip the horrid figure over.

Malivoire was not convinced bringing the statue back to Mazzahs was a smart idea, but he silently bowed to the will of the group.  Still, while those brawnier members of the group began tackling the challenge, he remained on edge and alert for the slightest sign of trouble.  With the statue, or otherwise.

Dax does his best to tip the statue in a controlled-manner, so that Caine and Ynes can get a comfortable grip on it. He then grabs the bottom of the plinth and heaves it up.

"Let's get moving."

Dax is able to lower the statue in a controlled manner, Caine taking hold of it first as the figure shifts to a horizontal position.

As it does, Dax’s gaze is drawn to the floor beneath the figure’s base. There, inscribed with great care upon the stone floor is what the ranger presumes is some manner of magical circle, its border and interior meticulously marked with numerous runes and sigils. As the circle becomes visible, it briefly flares with an unearthly crimson light that borders on blinding. In the same instant that it does so, the illumination emanating from the statue fades, as does the unnatural warmth that coursed through the monstrous creation.

The crimson light flares away from the circle, stretching to reach every portion of the necromancer’s crypt, the entire chamber briefly filled with a burning red glow. When it fades, the adventurers immediately see that they are not alone.

Standing a few paces away from the necromancer’s sarcophagus is a massive horned creature, which all within the room immediately recognize as being demonic in nature. It stands almost twelve feet in height, the long horns extending from each side of its head scraping the crypt’s ceiling. Bat-like wings extend from its back and its entire form is wreathed in flame, the heat instantly filling the chamber. In one hand, it grasps a sword with a serrated blade, in the other, a many tailed whip, the dark leather strands wound with spikes of metal and bone.

The demon appears to roar, its malevolent expression one of triumph, but its words are lost within the veil of silence called forth by Barnabus. The creature’s black eyes fix on the gathered adventurers and it shouts something else, its message once again swallowed by the unnatural quiet.

20:34, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 1 using 1d6.  Initiative - Party.

20:35, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 6 using 1d6.  Initiative - Balor.

Reacting with frightening speed, the demon whirls the whip over its head in a tight circle and snaps it forward, the tails ensnaring Caine, who clenches his jaw as the weapon’s spikes tear into him. With a single, hard yank, the demon pulls the adventurer toward him, drawing him into the unending flames which surround it. Caine only has time to briefly open his mouth in an unheard cry before the fire consumes him, his body reduced to powdery ash and blackened bones within a matter of moments.

20:39, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 2 using 1d6.  Target.

20:39, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 15 using 1d20.  Attack - Balor - Whip.

20:40, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 5 using 1d6.  Damage - Whip.

20:40, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 15 using 3d6.  Damage - Aura.

OOC: The Balor (or, if we were playing 1st edition AD&D/OSRIC, the Type VI Demon) has an armor class of -2. Those adventurers in the group that are divinely or magically trained would know that the demon can only be harmed by magical weapons. Those same adventurers would suspect that the creature possesses some spell-like abilities. As they are abilities, not spells, their use would not be impacted by Barnabus' silence spell.

For purposes of turning, the balor is treated as a 9 hit dice creature.

Dax and Ynes are still holding the statue. Caine is not. The statue may be dropped and weapons drawn or movement taken to flee within the same round. Dropping the statue may damage it.

It is the party’s turn to act.

Some mood music.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Sun 01 Jan 2023.

With little regard for the rest of the party, and none at all for their daft kleptomaniac, the dwarf vacates the room with haste.  Undead lords, and now demons, he begins to wonder if the man has ulterior motives.  He casts down his torch and begins a silent but fleet trip down the hall back towards the entrance, only calling for rope to be lowered as he nears.


https://youtu.be/iIpfWORQWhU (in my head, it was Monty Python, but this is more my generation)

His face assuming the color of the bones secreted in his pack, Barnabus flees from the crypt for the exit to the Barrowmaze, his arms nearly flapping in his haste to do so.

 Dilemma looks at the demon, steels herself to cast a spell, but then swallows and says, "[REDACTED] this..."  Caine's demise solidifies this response.  She flees with the others.  Would that she could cast as she runs, like the strange heroes she'd heard of!  She'd lob a ball of darkness at the burning bastard's eyes.

 In agreement with his mage's decision, Charley, normally riding with at least his head or upper body out of her backpack, ducks into the leather bag, bracing himself against the crowbar and grappling hook tangled in there.

The statue slips from Dax's fingers as he watches in fascinated horror as the demon forms from the red flash of light.

The ranger is drawn from inaction by the instantaneous incineration of Caine.

Drawing his sword, and raising his shield, Dax interposes himself between the demon and the exit. "Mal! Ynes! Lampert! RUN!" he shouts as he slowly moves backward toward the corridor.

Once his comrades have left the room, the ranger drops all pretense of self-sacrificing bravery and turns and flees.

The horror that emerged from beneath the statue stole away Malivoire's breath and he gaped in fear as the thing stretched out its wings and snapped its whip around poor Caine.  This was a lord of the lower planes, and whatever powerful magics had been set to ensnare the fiend had now been rendered moot by their tampering.  They had unleashed another horror beyond measure within the catacombs!

But these were realizations that would occur to Malivoire once (if?) they reached the relative safety of Helix.  In that moment, even before the last of his ashes crumbled to the floor, some of his companions were already fleeing and Malivoire did not need more than Dax's glance to spur his own feet into motion.  Hustling as fast as he could, he tried to keep Lampert and Ynes ahead of him.  Those two would need the light, so he urged them toward the entrance as fast as he could.

Ynes needs no encouragement to retreat, easily perceiving that this new threat entirely outmatches the company. Letting the statue fall, she grips her axe, hanging back alongside Dax until the others have cleared the chamber, then keeping pace with him as they flee.

The adventurers scramble out of the crypt, running as quickly as they are able for the entrance chamber. A tremor takes hold of the corridor as they traverse it, a quake that, if they did not know its origin, they would presume originated from somewhere deep within the earth. Those courageous enough to look back see stones and mortar erupt from the archway that leads into the necromancer’s resting place, the demon’s massive form destroying portions of the adjoining walls as it emerges into the passageway.

The balor sets after those that freed it, cracking its whip as it follows with a heavy tread, the flames that surround it filling the corridor with a terrible red illumination.

As the last in line of those fleeing, it is Dax and Ynes who most readily perceive what transpires next. As they pass the last of the doors that line the southern wall, it bursts open as if kicked. Tendrils of darkness emerge from the doorway, along with a terrible, flesh burning cold that washes into the corridor, pushing back the heat of the demon’s flames.

A moment later, his dark, armored form familiar to most of the company, Lord Varghoulis emerges into the corridor, his sword, coursing with pale blue energy, in hand. He points the tip of the weapon at the demon.

”You trespass, spawn of Orcus!” the death knight calls in his terrible, hollow voice, ”Flee or be destroyed!”

The demon roars as it launches itself at the undead warrior.

Searlait has already lowered the rope when the adventurers, led by Ishmael, reach the entrance chamber, having felt and heard the infernal monster’s pursuit. Kraomar is with her at the pulley. ”TAKE HOLD!” she yells, ”WE CAN BRING THREE UP AT A TIME!”

The catacombs shake with even greater violence as the battle is joined in the corridor beyond. Smoke, earth, and fragments of stone billow into the room.

With one motion (Okay, maybe two), Barnabus slips his cudgel into his belt and snatches one of his potions from his bandolier, before raising it to his lips (so, three, then) and draining its contents (fine four), after which a tingling sensation of weightless suffuses him (not counting that one). As he wills himself to rise, he wraps one arm around Dilemma and the other around Lampert, calling out, "Up! Away with me! I'll drop a rope for you, Mal. One minute!"

He trusts Ynes, Dax, and Ishmael to figure out the three spots in the lift belong to them, just as the Barrowmaze belongs to those other two ... figures ... for now.

He also trusts that Malivoire, this time, will seal off the eastern passage.

-1 Potion of Levitation
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Wed 04 Jan 2023.

"Silvanus, preserve us!" Dax mumbles in utter shock as he sees the undead knight clash with the demon.

Seeing Ishmael gesturing, the ranger tears his eyes from the epic battle that looks to begin and joins the dwarf and Ynes on the lift. "Pull us up! Quickly!" he shouts.

Even before the lift reaches the upper level, he shouts to Serlait, "We are leaving NOW! No time to pack up camp!"

 Once Dilemma is safe...r, she spills onto her feet from the priest's grasp, and then catches herself, making sure to keep getting the hell out of "there".

Searlait and Kraomar pull the rope with all of the strength they can muster, hauling Dax, Ishmael, and Ynes up to the surface with remarkable speed. Below, Malivoire has a moment to peer through the haze of dust and smoke into the eastern leading corridor before Barnabus’ promised rope arrives. The battle between the two fearsome opponents continues to rage and the elven mage is able to escape the catacombs without incident.


Neither Searlait nor Kraomar question Dax’s orders, both hirelings moving out alongside the band of adventurers, weapons in hand. Darkness still lingers over the fog shrouded moor, but even as the group move away from the tombs, they can still hear the noise of conflict, and see an unearthly light spilling out of the catacombs’ entrance.