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19 Tarsakh 1471, (Day 24)

Morning

The Old Owl Well

• Hamund Kost reiterates to The Party that he has raised his “guards,” a horde of undead, to ensure their parlay remains civil
  • Insists that unless the entire party (including "Rig") shows themselves, the parlay will not continue and hostilities could begin
  • Vala attempts to explain her absence away, mentioning sickness in The Party
    • Orthanc holds up the sick, sleeping Persi to demonstrate the false illness
  • Vala sneakily casts Mage Hand to use it to create a distraction by pulling a loose stone from the crumbling walls
    • The wall slightly crumbles, gaining the brief attention of a zombie, but has no significant effect
  • "Rig" attempts to climb a wall to escape the ruins, but makes some noise alerting Hamund Kost to a presence at the opposite end of the ruins
    • She immediately drops her invisibility to hurl curses at Hamund and his horde of undead
  • Hamund Kost states his regret that he and The Party could not come to amicable terms

[Combat Begins]

• Rig finds herself in a tight situation in a small space between Hamund Kost’s massive tent and the ruined walls of the Old Owl Well with skeletons approaching from either direction from the front of the tent
  • A human skeleton slashes Rig with a dagger, causing her to take the Bleeding Condition
  • Rig tries to pry up the bottom of the tent to enter it and escape her predicament, but she fails an Athletics check to pull up a flap of the heavily secured tent
• Orthanc taps into the power of his giant-kin ancestry, entering a rage and growing to meet 10 feet in height
  • Cleaves his Greataxe through several Rotting Zombies, cutting them in half but leaving their torsos still searching for ways to attack
• Vala immediately follows up with a Red Chromatic Orb, setting fire to the mob of Rotting Zombies, causing their rotting flesh to melt and burn - completely destroying most of them
• A mob of Decrepit Skeletons approach Rig from behind, hammering her with their lifeless arms
• A mob of Rotting Zombies attempt to bludgeon Orthanc, but in his giant state, they fecklessly slam their puny arms against his massive legs of rock-like skin
• Deep black-purple rays erupt from a wand in Hamund Kost’s hand, striking Orthanc with a Ray of Enfeeblement
  • Orthanc succeeds on a Constitution Save
  • The ray begins to sap the strength from Orthanc, who is still nursing a Broken Vertebra, and he sinks to the ground briefly before resolutely standing to his feet
• Another 12 Rotten Zombies crawl from out of the ground between Hamund and The Party
• Seeing Orthanc weakened by the Ray of Enfeeblement and struggling with his back injury, Slûûp successfully sneaks by the horde of the undead who are intent on attacking Orthanc
  • Slûûp hides behind Orthanc’s massive legs, reaches into his tunic and pulls out a small Pendant of Oghma
  • Slûûp chants a prayer to Oghma, requesting his infinite knowledge to cast Lesser Restoration and temporarily removing the effects of the Wound Orthanc was suffering from
• Rig finds herself locked in a desperate struggle, surrounded by attacking skeletons and trying to extricate herself from the situation
  • She fails an Acrobatics check, jumping up onto the nearest wall to escape from battle
    • The wall begins to crumble under her feet, so she expertly hops back down into the melee, keeping the skeletons at arm’s reach
• Orthanc, freshly invigorated by Slûûp’s healing magic, lifts his Greataxe and attacks the mob of Rotting Zombies
  • He cleaves more of them in half, but learning from his previous attack, continues his swing to split the remaining torsos apart on the backswing, destroying the zombies
• Vala sees an opportunity to repeat her first follow-up attack and again sends a Red Chromatic Orb into the thick of the zombie horde
  • Another group of Rotting Zombies immolates, burning fast and bright as their putrid fat explodes in flame, destroying them
• While Orthanc is busy dispatching a group of Rotting Zombies, another group advances toward his open flank and slams their wall of fists and arms into Orthanc’s side
  • After being weakened from the Ray of Enfeeblement, he feels a rib crack and becomes Bloodied
• Hamund notices Orthanc’s struggle and sends a river of sickly green energy toward him, hitting Orthanc with a Ray of Sickness
  • The bruised skin on Orthanc’s side where the zombies struck him takes on a sickly pallor and begins to fester with sores, causing him to take the Poisoned condition
• Slûûp again calls on the power of Oghma, harnessing the knowledge contained in the multiverse and casts Cure Wounds on Orthanc, causing some of the pussy boils on his side to subside
• A group of Zombie Orcs shuffle into a loose line to wall off the area west of the well, putting a wall of rotten orc flesh between Hamund and The Party
• Rig goads a Human Zombie to stab a long dagger at her
  • She easily dodges the attack but grips the dagger between her arm and ribs, play acting that the skeleton had actually stabbed her
  • She dramatically feigns injury and falls to the ground, shouting that “I have been kill’t!”
  • The witless skeleton watches the Deception but its empty eye sockets and skull do not even register the very entertaining antics
  • When she hits the ground, some blood trickles from her Bleeding wound
  • She quickly checks to see if the skeleton was buying the schtick, reads the room, then pops back up onto her feet
  • She uses the skeleton to aid in her leap to attempt to scale the crumbling outer walls of the Old Owl Well
    • The shaky wall again begins to falter and Rig lands back in her defensive stance
  • Rig attacks on of the Human Skeletons with an off-hand stiletto, stabbing into its rib cage and taking a small knick of bone from one of the ribs
    • She quickly realizes that her usual tactical strategy of stabbing vital organs with needlepoint precision will likely prove ineffectual against the undead
• Orthanc is surrounded by a throng of Rotting Human zombie - they cling to his feet and legs Restraining him in place
  • A fire-singed mass of Rotting Zombies continue to harry Orthanc, feebly slamming their limbs against him but unable to harm his thick Goliath hide
  • Despite his somewhat sluggish movement, feeling the poison from Hamund’s Sickness spell, Orthanc hoists his Battleaxe above his head and splits a Human Zombie in twain
• Vala reaches into a small sling pack tied around her and fishes out a Scroll of Charm Person
  • The scroll burns to cinders in a field of muted pink Arcane energy, which  reaches out in feathery whisps to surround Hamund
  • Hamund fails a Wisdom save and becomes Charmed by Vala
    • Vala’s innocent-sounding voice explains to him how the fight was all a big misunderstanding stemming from Rig’s distrust of magic users
    • He speaks over the din of battle to tell Vala that he believes SHE would never try to deceive him but that he would have to dispose of her friends  before they can have a more personal conversation
    • Hamund wants to tell Vala all about what he had learned about the history of the Netherese outpost while excavating “his diggings” at the Old Owl Well
• Hamund gets Vala’s attention, bringing to attention his prowess with the Weave
  • He pulls a small bundle of black fur and a clump of coal from inside of his robes, smashes them together in his hands, and bellows some arcane words
  • A perfectly opaque sphere of Darkness, 30 feet in diameter engulfs him
• Slûûp apologizes to Orthanc that he cannot spare more magic for him that he must check on the wellness of Rig
  • He sneakily scurries passed the horde of undead attacking Orthanc and easily clambors over a ruined wall
• Rig continues her nimble dodging of their mindless attacks, using her surroundings to jump and dive away
• Rig attempts to drive back the Human Skeleton by attacking it with her stiletto, but the thin blade, so good at piercing vital organs on most foes, seems to be an ineffective weapon against reanimated bones
  • Realizing the limitations of her current attack, Rig flips the stilettos over, holding them by the blade and attempting to bludgeon with the pommels
  • She clobbers a skeleton with her makeshift bludgeon, blowing its skull apart
  • Small shards of the exploding bone nick her as they fly past
  • Rig taps into her training as a Fighter, finding an opportunity to squeeze in another attack with her stilettos
    • Perhaps over-eager from the success of her previous attack, Rig narrowly misses crushing a skeleton’s skull between the twin pommels of her stilettos
    • The pommels smash together, crack and fall apart, preventing her from continuing to use them in that manner, and damaging them 1 Notch
• The mass of zombies repeatedly bash themselves against Orthanc’s massive legs, unable to inflict any wounds while he counters with broad sweeps of his Greataxe, cleaving them into heaps of rotten flesh and Vala finishes them off with fiery blasts of Red Chromatic Orbs
• While Rig fends off her skeleton attackers, Slûûp appears at the crest of the ruined wall just above her head
  • He grasps his Symbol of Oghma and requests a blessing
  • A beam of light envelops Rig and she hears chanting in an archaic language she cannot comprehend then a shimmering, golden ethereal scroll wraps around her and blinks from visibility, providing a Shield of Faith to protect her
• The skeletons’ attacks strike an invisible barrier, preventing them from further harrying Rig
  • Unable to continue to use her stilettos as makeshift bludgeons, Rig attacks the skeletons with her backpack loaded with equipment, but it doesn’t make a particularly effective improvised weapon
  • Rig seeks respite in her Fighter training and finds a Second Wind to heal some of her injuries
• Orthanc and Vala continue to winnow the numbers of the zombie horde breaking against the stone mountain that is Orthanc
• After successfully aiding his comrades in arms with healing and restoration, Slupp finds confidence in himself
•  He pulls Silverwing’s Talon from its scabbard, holds it above his head, and calls upon the power of Oghma to give him the knowledge to tap the arcane power within it
  • The Radiance of Dawn emits from the crosspiece of the short sword - intensely bright, white radiant light erupts from the sword, blasting the undead in a 30 foot radius with radiant energy that burns them away into whisps of ash
• The remaining undead stop in their place, and begin falling into heaps where they stand as if the dark energy animating them has dissipated
  • After a few seconds, the sphere of darkness also blinks out

[End Combat]

• Each member of The Party gains 100XP for surviving against Hamund Kost and his undead horde
• The Party congregates around the large well in the center of the ruined walls, investigating it as the most likely route of escape for Hamund Kost
  • A thorough investigation through Miss Tra’s eyes as she hovered down the depth of the well finds nothing unusual
  • The well is remarkably well built, with expertly cut stones that fit together perfectly, and seem as new as they were when they were first laid in places thousands of years ago
• Vala begins searching through Hamund Kost’s work stations encircling the large fire in the ruined main staircase of the Old Owl Well
  • She picks up Hamund Kost’s Journal open to the current date on a writing stand on one of his workbenches
    • Personal field journal, containing all of the findings from his excavation of the site
    • Written in Thayan - a script made up of Rauric and Infernal - which Vala cannot read
  • Vala searches Hamund Kost’s Alchemy station and finds:
    • Potion - glows with a faint blue light and has crystalline fragments suspended in it (Potion of Lesser Spellpower)
    • Alchemy Recipe written in Thayan (Recipe for Potion of Lesser Spellpower)
    • 1 vial of powdered Adamantine
• Orthanc searches the stack of crates, boxes, and barrels in the southeast corner of the Old Owl Well
  • Largely filled with equipment and materials required for excavation, for storing/protecting fragile archaeological trinkets, and for long distance travel
  • Finds 25 stable emergency rations
• The Party searches the large red tent serving as Hamund Kost’s living quarters and field research lab
  • The tent seems to be much bigger inside than it seemed on the outside
  • Majority of the tent is taken up by work tables covered in items unearthed from his excavation of the site - in various states of cleaning and refurbishing
    • Rig Investigates the items and finds a very well cleaned floor tile
    • The floor tile is in exceptional shape for being thousands of years old
    • The tile is artfully decorated in calligraphic script that resembles Draconic
    • Rig carefully wraps the tile (without touching it) in a pillowcase with one of the pillows into her pack
    • Rig gains Ancient Netherese Floor Tile and Fine Thayan Pillow
  • One corner of the tent is a very lavish and comfortable living quarter with a MASSIVE feather bed adorned with ostentatious linens and pillows
    • "Rig" fishes an item tag from an archaeology workbench, writes “Property of Rig” on the tag, and affixes it to the bed
    • Rig finds a small traveler’s chest with a leather bag inside
    • The leather bag contains 35 SP, 20 EP, 20 GP, and 5 PP, one pearl, and a tiny, intricately jeweled ring box
      • The coinage is unfamiliar to her, with script similar to that written in Hamund Kost’s journal
      • Each coin is stamped on both sides with a depiction of a cylindrical tower with a skull mounted at the top and buttresses resembling blades on the sides
    • Rig tosses the ring box to Vala muttering “I think this is Hamund’s engagement ring for you”
      • Vala is openly disgusted but loves jewelry so she opens it anyway.
      • Inside the box and finds a ring with an item tag affixed to it
      • The ring is white gold with an inlaid symbol made from crushed blue sapphire
      • Vala casts Identify on the ring
    • Netherese Ring of Protection +1 AC and all Saving Throws (Rare Item, 0 bulk, 1000 GP)
      • Crafted by ancient Netherese mage Orthol in -3455DR during the Nether Age of ancient Nerthil 
      • The ring is marked with the symbol of Mystryl, the Goddess of Magic, who was revered by the Netherese
      • Vala succeeds on an Arcana check to begin the process of attuning to the ring
        • She sees through the history of the ring, back to its creation, and gains insight on how the magic of the ring functions - (1 of 3 steps to attunement complete)
• After thoroughly searching for loot, The Party returns to the Old Owl Well in the middle of the old fortress
  • Rig briefly entertains the idea of choking the well with the corpses of the undead to prevent any possible attacks originating from then well
    • Vala and Slûûp argue that it would be ill-advised and uncouth to foul the only source of clean potable water for perhaps hundred of miles, especially considering it has existed as a vital resource for millennia
    • The Party compromises and decides that covering the well for the time being should suffice
      • Orthanc flips over one of Hamund Kost’s heavy work tables, covers the well opening, and places a large hunk of wall debris atop it
  • Rig continues to voice her concern that Hamund is not gone and that the remains of the zombies and skeletons could reanimate to attack them
  • The Party takes several hours to gather the bones and rotting meat from the de-animated skeletons and zombies and pile them several hundred feet from the old fortress
    • Slûûp beseeches the power of Oghma to bless and consecrate the remains to prevent necromantic magic from again animating them
• Rig, still miffed that she was unable to kill Hamund Kost, decides that she wants to do some additional damage to his excavation progress
  • The Party spends half a day filling in the site with 5’ of previously-excavated dirt
  • Rig then rearranges the labels on all of Hamund Kost’s work tables
• The Party spends a Long Rest in Hamund Kost’s luxurious bed

20 Tarsakh 1471 (Day 25)

Old Owl Well

Morning

• The Party awakens in the luxurious bed having rested better than any of them had in their entire lives
  • Each member of The Party gains the Well-Rested condition
• Orthanc succeeds on a Constitution Saving Throw and his Fractured Vertebrae Injury is cured, perhaps bolstered by the healing magic from Slûûp the previous day
• Slûûp mentions that he had no idea that sleep could be so pleasant or restful as he had spent his entire life sleeping on piles of soiled rags
  • He takes a Fine Thayan Pillow from the bed to keep with him on the horse cart