FRIDAY, APRIL 24TH - MASTER AND APPRENTICE CAMPAIGN 1 : SESSION 12 RECAP
Aldors Journal : Entry 12
Whats dead in a tomb sealed for what feels like multilple lifetimes should stay dead…and if not, should be made dead…er
Torches flared to life as we stepped into the next column filled chamber, which in hindsight should have been our first warning. Rooms don’t just politely light themselves unless they’re about to try and murder you.
Sure enough, the stone doors sealed behind us. Looking for a way out, Cade presses a blue button which seemed to open up trap doors and water began pouring in…fast.
We noticed each carved with colored buttons. Cade hammered the green one. The room answered with hissing gas rolling down from above. Progress, technically.
I clocked two more columns marked red and blue. We coordinated, hit the blue together, and the rushing water ground to a halt. After a frantic bit of searching, we found the second green button and shut the gas off entirely. Breathing is generally preferred.
After a moment to think — and because dungeon designers love patterns — we hit the black buttons simultaneously.
Stone groaned. Something massive shifted beneath our feet, and a cylinder rose from the center of the chamber. Cade brushed dust from the carvings: ancient pictographs, wars long forgotten. Then he said the word no one ever wants to hear.
“Sarcophagus.”
The lid cracked apart, and an undead warrior pulled itself free.
I vanished into smoke, and Ukalis slicked the floor with Grease. I slipped in behind the creature and gave it a helpful nudge. It went down hard, bone and stone colliding in a very satisfying way.
Cade charged in, hammer blazing — quite literally. In the heat (and yes, heat) of the moment, he triggered the fire enchantment. The creature ignited. Unfortunately… so did Cade.
The warrior got back up anyway and repaid Cade with a mighty shot.
Ukalis answered with a Guiding Bolt that nailed the thing in a blast of radiant fury. I dashed in, shoved a draught down Cade’s throat to keep him breathing, then melted back into the shadows.
When the undead staggered again, Cade lined up one last swing — and I darted in and punched a hole clean through its skull. Problem solved.
After a short rest—during which Cade healed and Ukalis inspected the remains—we pressed on.
The next chamber was… strange.
A short tunnel opened to an archway, a single step beyond it—and then nothing. A void. Suspended in the air were white oval disks, floating like stepping stones. We tested one with our ever‑reliable globe. Solid.
I decided to get a little clever here: Tensor’s Disk, Dancing Lights, a little arcane gymnastics. I crossed the chasm—but the door on the far side refused to budge. Athletics. Of course.
I jumped the ovals myself.
Each landing rang like a bell. The final chime echoed through the chamber, and the door opened.
The room beyond stank of rot and old water. Pictographs along the walls depicted a river winding through the chamber, guiding the way forward between segmented columns.
As we moved, hanging braziers lit themselves—one by one—casting flickering light over banners and tapestries heaped across the floor like discarded trophies.
At the far end, now illuminated by light, stood a black ziggurat.
It seemed to completely absorb all of the light hitting it.
No doors. No seams. Just sheen black geometry.
A stone stand jutted from the back. I climbed it, the stone so cold it burned. At the top hung a striker. I rang the disk.
The ziggurat began to hum.
The top split open.
And out came a nightmare: a skeletal priest, ancient and powerful, radiating bad intentions. I hurled a net — worth a shot—but it shredded through it like silk. The thing leapt thirty feet down and landed like a damn legend.
Piercing weapons did nothing. Ukalis answered with fire.
The creature locked eyes with me, unleashing some kind of magical gaze — but I shook it off.
Shadows twisted into a Morningstar in its grip. It smashed Ukalis, then began shaping a spell. Ukalis recognized it too late — silence.
Cade drove his hammer into its back. I struck low, carving into its leg with my enchanted blade. The spell completed. Ukalis was cut off.
Then Cade landed a critical strike — and paid for it. The priest struck back with the force of a charging horse, sending Cade crashing away, sickened and barely standing.
The fight was brutal. Spell, steel, shadow, bone.
But we held. And the creatures concentration finally breaking, Ukalis hit it with a Magic Missile that Elminster himself would be envious of - slammed into his chest and finally fell the creature with a thud. I walked up to the top, stomped on its head and may or may not have relieved myself on its remains. Damn creature cost me nearly all of my potions, and force feeding them to Cade wasn’t a fun experience.
When it finally fell, the chamber seemed to exhale.
Inside the ziggurat: treasure. Real treasure.
The highlights — at least to me:
An Ivory Wand of Fear
A rapier of ivory and silk, impossibly balanced
“The Silken Needle” — I’m a dagger man myself, but this weapon seemed to have some utility built into it which intrigued me…more to come on my findings.
There was also a circlet. When Ukalis inspected it, we realized it could teleport someone ten miles. Handy. Dangerous.
The moment it was lifted, light speared down from the ceiling.
We threw the circlet back. It vanished.
I jumped into the light.
I landed on a hillside in the Neverwinter Wood.
Fresh air never smelled so good.
We regrouped, rested, and made our way back to Neverwinter, where we contacted Cullen and returned to the safety of his safehouse — alive, richer, and painfully aware the crown that the Many Starred Cloak sent us to find, the Crown of Neverwinter, was certainly never there. And why Melania’s cohort, the priest of Thay (or former priest of Thay if its even possible to leave that life behind) would send us, likely knowing that, would soon be our biggest problem…
That’s where we leave you for now! More to come, as always in the Forgotten Realms. We will see you soon in The Maze!