Adventurers
- Harlin Winklevos (Fighter 3)
- Rafin Falskax (Cleric 2)
- Tyrion (Elf 1)
The party surveyed the visible barrows further up the mountain and headed for one whose stone entrance they could make out. A few swings of the sledgehammer later and down they went into depths. They were assaulted by a strong whiff of multiple sweet odours and opted to try a door which led away from the smell.
Two more doors lay beyond: one of a towering hooded figure engraved upon it with no obvious door handle, and the other leading to a library. The party spent a bit of time rifling through books and searching for hidden doorways. No joy on the latter, but Tyrion came away with an elaborately illustrated old tome which would surely sell for good money back in Ximes.
The party backtracked and headed towards the smell. The source turned out to be a mummifying chamber, a table with old fabric laid across it and surrounding shelves populated with dozens of old jars and pots. Taking note of the room's contents, the adventurers tried another door which led down to a crypt with four mummified figures stretched out on stones slabs. Each had a bowl of coins at their feet. Rafin then led the group in a theological debate on the rights and wrongs of pre-emptive corpse burning and tomb desecration (only in relation to treatment of bodies; buried wealth was all fair game). They settled for Harlin yanking the coins away while everyone else stood with a burning torch ready. In the end it was unnecessary; the forms didn't move and just appeared to be mundane bodies wrapped in linen.
Then the adventurers steeled themselves for the ominous door they'd passed by earlier. Another swing of the sledgehammer smashed the engraved slab to pieces revealing a round room with some pottery around the circumference and a sarcophagus in the centre. After his new thief retainer had checked it for traps, Harlin opened it. Staring back at him was a terrifying creature, superficially similar to the one he'd skewered in the previous barrow but with a deeper aura of evil, the glow from its eye sockets glowing more intensely.
The party saw the fighter collapse and then drag himself away from the monster, gibbering incoherently. They swung their weapons, thankful that they had such a magical arsenal to equip everyone with, but the figure appeared unperturbed by the damage they could inflict. Then Harlin's other retainer, the elf Beerdale, swiped at the barrow wight with his enchanted shield, activating Serouc's Touch and dropping the creature to the ground, paralysed. Everyone immediately leapt upon it, hacking away until it dissappated away.
Harlin remained a wreck in the corridor so after gathering some fragile pottery the party guided him back to the entrance. They also took the time to collect some of the ointments and powders from the mummifying room; on closer inspection the jar contents turned out to be quite potent magical ingredients. They potted them up and led their mercenaries back to Ximes, interrupted only by a failed wolf attack on the way. They sent the beasts yelping away with their tails between their legs and entered the safety of the city once again.