Nick the Pike in Rappan Athuk

Session played on 1/21


Nick the Pike, Fighter 5
Lady Eiric, Magic User
Karl, Dwarf
Darryl, Cleric (NPC)

South of the old keep, the party came upon an ancient battlefield with great plinth in the middle upon which was a mounted warrior, all made of white marble. On the plinth was a locked door, beyond which was a large hall lined with empty pillars that looked like they once held busts. At the far end of the space was a stair heading down…

Taking the stairs, the stonework shifted from white marble shot through with black to black shot through with white. Descending around 80’ the stairway ended in a hall. Carefully making their way down the hall they came to a locked door with a small caged window. Looking through revealed a decently sized chamber with an open doorway at the far end. Not wanting to bash open the door, the party continued down the hall.

Shambling out of the darkness came 5 zombies. Darryl destroyed them with a drunken wave of his hand. Quickly checking over the bodies a small bit of silver was recovered.

Further down the hall, and around the corner a set of 4 matching cells were found, occupied by some adventurers that had been captured. Wharton the elf was very talkative and wanted out. Again, not wanting to make a ton of noise, the party continued on, leaving the adventurers locked up, but with a promise to find the key, held apparently by a gross fat man called “The Abbott”

Deeper into the dungeon the party found a doorway with a purple light that glowed brighter as they approached. Looking in Nick saw a massive worship space. Pews between pillars carved with twisted frog like creatures, a stone altar, a cauldron bubbling with… body parts, and behind all that a giant frog statue with glowing gem eyes. 8 zombies in green robes carrying waxy rods tried to attack, but Darryl destroyed most of them, Karl smashed one, and Nick took his down (with 2 hits).

Searching around the frog statue Karl found a lever, and pushed it up. A spray of acidic gas rained down, burning Nick’s eyes. Stumbling away, he bumped into the boiling cauldron, burning himself. Darryl healed him a little, and Nick downed a healing potion on top of that. Karl was only mildly bothered by the acid.

Pulling the lever opened a secret door that revealed a hallway. Taking the passage they came to a room piled with old wooden coffins, with withered old bodies and nothing else. Beyond that room was another large chamber with 6 small chambers off of it, each with 16 coffins. Written on the floor was Graves of the Lower Priesthood. At the head of the room was a statue with a golden circlet upon it. Starting to investigate the side chambers, Karl opened a coffin. A zombie, unnaturally fast, reached out clawing at Karl at the room reverberated with a loud croaking sound that seemed to come from the statue. 5 other zombies emerged from coffins, 1 from each side chamber. Darrly took care of them easily. Checking another coffin had the same result, as did checking the 3rd, 4th, 5th coffins. A loud croaking sound, and 6 more fast zombies. Deciding that they’d all had enough fun, the circlet was pulled from the statue (6 more zombies), the gems from the frog statue, then back to the prisoners.

Wharton the Elf said that the other prisoners were all part of his group, and that we should free them if we could. Lacking the key, Karl busted down the doors… except for one. Biffin the fighter’s cousin Zor was left locked up, as it was determined that Zor was more likely to run for help from the cultists than go with the party. Biffin offers to join up with the group if they’ll re-equip him.

Passing back up the stairs, through the hollow plinth, and back out onto the ancient battlefield, the party breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the sky again. 

Gains: 50sp, 8 silver rings, 2 glowing gems, and a golden circlet
Kills: Lots of zombies
Losses: