The Tomb of the Mud Sorcerers

The Saturday game, recapping 11/21/20, 12/5/20 and 1/2/21– At the end of the precious session, we had just found Laeral Silverhand, the Open Lord of Waterdeep, in the catacombs underneath the High Hall. From here, she has used her small force of forty troops to organize security patrols for the citizens of Elturel, but she is vastly outnumbered by devils and demons. She has noticed something odd. When knights of the city of Elturel are killed, they become devils. This does not happen when her own troops are killed. She is also aware of the market in the eastern part of the city where refugees are being sheltered and provided for by vampires. Silverhand remarks that the western portion of the city is relatively safe; the demons stick to the eastern side and the devils are relatively unorganized. She does not believe that Zariel is attacking the city. We tell her of rumors we heard that there is a portal in the western part of the city. She has also heard that there is a portal that leads to the Abyss.

Silverhand introduces us to a woman who is the head of Torm’s worship in the city. She tells us of the Helm of Torm’s Sight, a helmet that allows the wearer to commune directly with the god. She tells the story of Lanish Vogal, a hero of Torm. He fought a cult of evil magicians called the Mud Sorcerers and sealed them within a tomb under a chapel located in the Grand Cemetery. The helm is rumored to be within this tomb. Patrols report that many undead are wandering around the cemetery, but none of them appear to be openly hostile.

The chapel then is our next target. Silverhand tells us of a secret tunnel that is accessed by pushing a lever near the holy water font in the High Hall. We use this tunnel to leave unseen and head north to the cemetery.

Along the way, we have two encounters! First, we save a man and his two children from a building burning with hellfire. Next, we venture into the Shop of Forbidden Delights. Things turn dicey when the proprietor and his three daughters turn out to be evil demons! After killing them, we find some tasty and useful pastries. Not sure why they did not just sell them to us, but I guess business is weird in Elturel!

Avoiding a few undead around the chapel, we enter an outbuilding where a large tome is opened on a desk. The book contains the testament of Gideon Lightward and his conversation with a woman. It describes how Zariel turned from the light when she realized the great lie which is that the gods would protect man from the chaos of the Abyss. We take the book with us. In the chapel, we have an epic battle with the madman Lightward and many devils and demons. At first, the devils and demons seem to fight each other, but during the battle they all turn on us. Nevertheless, we are victorious.

We find a mediation pool in the basement of the chapel. At the bottom of the pool, steel letters are inset into a block of granite. Pressing the letters to form the word “welcome” causes the block to slide open giving us access to the tomb.

Before us are four stone pillars, each with different markings on them. Beyond, two eighty-foot rectangular pools stretch out on either side of the room forming an aisle. Disturbingly, the two clear pools are filled with bones. At the end is a round pool behind which is a large bell. The round pool contains dark liquid. The bell has no markings or words on it.

A hallway leads east to a room. The walls are covered with carvings of eyes weeping acid tears. We find a secret door leading north. In a large room, a statue of an elephant points at the door from which we just exited. The statue’s other hand reaches for a sheathed sword. Statues of a jackal, a hawk and a cat occupy three corners of the room with a black pillar in the final corner. Four locked iron doors lead to the north, south and west.

The Cleric dives into the round pool and finds a black key at the bottom. The Rogue checks the black pillar and disarms a trap. Turning the pillar counterclockwise a full rotation reveals a compartment, but also animates the statues. After a fight, we find that the compartment in the pillar contains a magical longsword, a dagger and a tube containing a vellum sheet upon which is an inscription in Abyssal.

We experiment with rotating the statues and discover that a door unlocks when the elephant points to it. The north door leads to a room with sarcophagi sealed with mortar. Past this room is a corridor that leads north and south. A massive stone face appears to be whistling and a soft breeze comes from the open mouth. On the face is a word in Abyssal which says “listen.” After reaching into the ears of the face, we pull out a small green key. The face looks south and leads to a chamber with a pillar.

We have a short interruption where we battle two giant crocomummies in the sarcophagus room. We take four clear jewels that were embedded in their chest and four bejeweled phylacteries. After this encounter, we take a long rest in our mansion.

To the north, is a long chamber with pillars running down the middle. A small room off the chamber contains a chest with some flasks, tools and a book written gnomish called “Irushu’s Automation Manual”. The room is guarded by a construct in the shape of a suit of armor. We manage to blow it up and take the gem that is the only remains.

To the west is a room filled with black pillars carved into snake creatures. As we investigate, six of them come alive and we prepare to fight. After a nasty battle, we retreat into our sanctum for another long rest. At the far end of the pillar room sits an altar. A rug covering the floor and the ceiling above depict a scene of a violently churning sea. As the Cleric steps on the rug, he disappears into the trap. A dispel magic from the Druid brings him back. The altar is covered in runes we cannot decipher. Items on it include a piece of green silk, four octagonal discs with symbols of the Mad Sorcerers, an ebony box, and an obsidian sword.

We head back to the room south of the whistling face which contains a green basalt pillar. Placing the green key in the pillar blast opens an area. Within the pillar is a purplewood coffin whose lid is painted with the face of a beautiful woman wearing a medallion. Inside the coffin is a mummified corpse wearing a silver pendant. We note that strangulation marks on the corpse’s neck match the pendant. A tube contains a scroll which states: “To sail the ship is smiled upon, the silver necklace must be donned.”

Back in the snake room, a secret door opens into a corridor that ends in stairs leading down. A passage east leads to a room with two pools of liquid. One contains about 300 gold in coins and a copper key. The other pool contains fish that briefly beguile the Cleric. From here, a hall leads north to a room with a mosaic floor behind a gate. Another passage loops back to the altar room to a door we previously could not open.

Finally, we decide to investigate the altar area more thoroughly. A mosaic on the wall shows figures holding an inscription which states, “Pig or camel brings thee woe. Hippo clears the way to go.” The Rogue disarms a trap in the ebony box. Within the box, a snake sits on a red silk pillow and can speak! It says we can ask three questions.

Q1: What room has the Helm of Torm? Answer: Tzolo’s Wall

Q2: Where is the wall? Answer: In the vaults of the Uzrivoy.

Q3: What is the Uzrivoy? Answer: A flying ship within the halls of the tomb.

After this, the snake bites the Rogue and puts him to sleep, but a greater restoration wakes him up.

Back in the elephant statue room, we turn him to open the south door which reveals a room containing a plot of bare earth. The Rogue uses mold earth to remove a coffin which contains a mummified human male clutching a scroll tube and wearing a gold ring with a topaz.

Turning the elephant west opens a door with another stone face. The face contains a door which loops back to the long pillar room. Having opened all the doors in the elephant room, we head back to the mosaic room. As the Paladin steps onto the mosaic, hundreds of shiny blades slice him into slivers. Whoops! But dispelling magic also dispels the corpse so the Paladin must have been magically transported.

We head down the stairs to a secret door with an inscription in Infernal which states, “North then south.” We cram the party into the small room beyond and see a symbol on the northern wall. When we open the door again, it seems like nothing has changed, but we are in a different area of the tomb. And we find the Paladin, alive and well, floating in a pool of water.

For ease of reference, here are the clues we have:

1. Dancing on the first great sign calls lying blades for cuts unkind. The dancer finds another room and suffers here a watery doom. (reference to mosaic room, rug in altar room)
2. I delight in the service of my mistress. It is for her I live or die whatever her choosing. May the lords of Earth and Water bless her in every endeavor.
3. Colored stones to thee bequeathed. Bitten tight in priestly teeth. Each a key to Tzolo’s Wall. Sign to sign will make it fall. (reference to gems from crocomummies?)
4. To sail the ship is smiled upon, the silver necklace must be donned.
5. Pig or camel brings thee woe. Hippo clears the way to go.