Rappan Athuk: Mouth Of Doom: Beware Shadows!

Session played on 4/18

Nick the Pike, Fighter 6 (Me)
Lada the Thief (Robby)
Darryl, Cleric (NPC)
Biffin, Fighter (NPC)
Leisha, Cleric 1 (NPC)
Cassandra, Sellsword
Cory, Sellsword
Wilsig the Mystic


After resting a few days in the village, Nick gets everyone geared up, and they head to the Mouth of Doom. Entering the dungeon, they do their usual check of the pit traps, then head around to the Iron Cobra stairs. On the way a pair of giant ants attacks, biting Biffin hard before they are killed. Dropping the rope down hey carefully make their way below.

Deciding to check out the side passage, they’re stopped quickly by a portcullis that slams down in front of them, and a demonic face on a disk in the middle of the bars laughs and taunts the party. Lada attempts to pick the lock, but the demon continues to laugh and mock his efforts. Nick promises to return with some acid.

Looping back around past Yaza’s rooms more doors are discovered and investigated. The first opened into a dusty empty room that connected to another dusty empty room, that connected to a room full of thick spider webs. Nick ask Wilsig if he has anything for this. Wilsig spends about half a minute waving his hands around and muttering under his breath, and then he releases a sheet of flame into the room… that doesn’t burn the webs… but does cause the large spiders back in the room to scream in pain. The spiders charge forward biting Wilsig, who survives their venom. They’re then cut down. Nick uses his magic ax to part the webbing, revealing 2 large cocoons. Remembering the time as a child he poked a cocoon and a ton of tiny spiders crawled out, he asked if Biffin would be willing to poke it. Nick backed away… Biffin punctured the nearer cocoon, and as Nick feared, out crawled a mass of tiny spiders.

“RUN” Nick screamed, shoving everyone out the door and slamming it behind him, saying “No, oh no, oh hell no, nope nope nope…”

Once Nick settled down, they moved onto the next door. This revealed yet another empty room… “They can’t all be empty?” Lada and Biffin poked around, finding a pair of secret doors! The first opened into a room with 3 sarcophagi and a pair of rotted coffins. The rotted coffins had long dead skeletons within. The sarcophagi seemed shut tight. Not being able to leave good enough along, Nick tries to get them open… and a gas trap is sprung. Almost the whole party dropped, retching their guts out onto the floor. While they were incapacitated, 2 of the sarcophagi opened, and out crawled a skeleton and a black skeleton.Biffin and Wilsig were the only ones not affected by the gas, and they charged in. Leisha was raked by the black skeleton, and her blood splattered across the room. Biffin took out the regular skeleton on his way to the black skeleton. Wilsig tried to put the skeletons to sleep. It failed. Biffin started to beat the skeleton, and Wilsig followed up with some Magic Missiles. Between the 2 of them, they managed to kill it before anyone else died.

It was an hour before the party could move due to the gas. On the upside, there was some treasure to be had! Jewelry worth a tidy sum was collected. The final sarcophagus was still unopened though… and why not. Keeping everyone but Nick, Cassandra, and Cory out of the room (in case of more gas) they lifted up the lid. A normal skeleton started to crawl out, and they dropped the lid onto it, killing it.

Checking out the other secret door revealed a black altar with black candles that flickered on as soon as someone stepped into the room. The room was checked, the altar avoided, and nothing of value was discovered. Back into the main hall, they continued a LONG way without seeing another door. When they finally come to one, it opens into a hallway with another door at the end. This door opens into a large chamber with a sunken floor wreathed in flames, chains hanging from the ceiling, and buttons next to the doors. Pressing the button nearest the door caused a bridge to slide out to about halfway across the room. Nick has Cassandra try to hit the button of the side door, and a bridge slides out, connecting with the already extended bridge. Thankfully the flames didn’t seem to need any fuel and gave off no heat, so they made their way around to the other door.

Beyond it was a t-intersecting hall. In both directions were doors with the same inscription “Let Those Who rest In Peace Lay In Peace”

That wasn’t gonna happen.

The first chamber explored had 5 sarcophagi. 3 were open and empty. 1 held a family of mice that were not thrilled to be disturbed. The last had a skeleton in rusty mail.

The other door had 3 sarcophagi behind it. These had rubies on each. The rubies were collected, then the first sarcophagi was opened. A sword wielding skeleton struck out at Nick, missing, but Nick felt his strength draining away. The skeleton then struck Cassy, knocking her down.  Darryl turned the skeleton to dust, and revealed a shadow that struck at Nick again and again. Bareilly able to swing his ax, Nick killed the shadow while Darryl healed Cassy. The fancy sword was taken by Biffin, and they decided enough treasure was had.

On the way out, a pair of stirges flew to attack. Wilsig put them to sleep. They were collected for Edrick, much to Wilsig’s grumbling. Then back at the bottom of the stairs some Kobolds were waiting to collect a toll. Nick chatted with them, and learned that the big footprints seen before were those of Vorlack the Ogre, chief of the Kobold Clan. Nick talks to the kobold about a change in management. The kobold drops a map to their camp. Nick pays the toll with the cheaper looking of the necklaces found, and then they head back to the village.

Nick spends a week recuperating under the careful ministrations of the local necromancer, who restores some, but not all of his drained strength.

Gains: magic sword, live stirges, assorted gems and jewelry
Kills: skeletons, black skeleton, shadow, giant spiders
Losses: Leisha, Nick’s strength