Untamed Wilds Session 10!

After their reward they were hired by an older archaeologist studying a series of caverns within the Thunder’s Point area. They were joined by two new friends, a human monk and an elderly human wizard. In total, the party numbered eight, the ranger crow, blood hunter cat folk, barbarian centaur, dragonborn fighter, human wizard, human monk, lizard swashbuckler, and the wizard goliath. As they traveled into the deep they found an area that was not stable and the entire tunnel gave way, sending the party into the dark. As they fell they heard the archeologist enact a spell of feather falling, saving the party and his fate is unknown. The group settled about their landing area, finding themselves on a high precipice overlooking a collapsed city enshrouded in darkness. In front of them was a large castle with stone doors untouched by time and blocking it from closing were two humanoid frog man skeletons that looked destroyed by a large lion skeleton. While the party sat around thinking of their escape they could hear croaking in the distance. The crow ranger sat and used his super keen senses to detect that monstrous creatures were approaching and quickly from the lower broken levels of the city. The ranger, blood hunter, and swashbuckler prepared themselves for combat, the barbarian positioned herself to be in the doorway, while the monk and wizards looked around inside the large castle front hall. Their investigation found the door could be barred from the inside, there was artwork depicting the heroic cat folk from the old age defeating their enemies with both magic and sword. There was a large fire pit that had some latent magic to it and a throne with even more magic. The goliath found a secret door in the back of the chamber and was having difficulties making it open. At this point the outer guard noticed eyes in the darkness ascending a makeshift wood and bone latticework scaffolding. The party delayed until they had more information, watching as dark figures moved within the shadows while large croaking things climbed the wall of the precipice. Eventually three small heads poked up over the edge, the middle head stood a bit and launched a fireball at the mass of party members attempting to hide in the shadows, and moments after the blast large frog monsters the size of lions leaps up onto the landing, biting out at anything close to themselves. The party made quick work of the first group, the wizards took a break from their research to drop a few spells into the fray. More of the man sized from men came up the scaffolds and were dealt with quickly. Fire balls and other more cautious spells were cast in the defense of the party and the monk worked her flurries to quickly take out the bigger threats. The centaur looked down again and saw even more frog men climbing. She did the reasonable thing and used her sword as a lever and tipped the scaffold over. Bone, wood, and airborne frog men crashed down heavily against the lower level and croaks could be heard slowly fading. The party took this moment to enter the castle as a group and bar the door with bits of broken skeletons. The human wizard took a closer look at the throne in the rear of the structure and found the enchantments would shock anyone unless they were descended from the royal line of cat folk. He bid the blood hunter sit in the seat and there was no magical discharge other then the firepit starting up very subtly. The group looked in the unlocked and now visible door finding boring rooms looted of all their worth and rotten food. The goliath wizard had the swashbuckler help him with the secret door and together they found their way through, the rest of the group followed as they could. They found the still supplied rooms the guards and servants would live in as well s a weapons depository and quite a few rooms with both spell books and weapons, leading them to think the previous people studied both the sword and tome. They also found a metal door with a feline face embossed on it and kept failing to open it. the elderly human wizard asked the cat folk to put his hand on the door and stabbed him in it, sending blood on the door and causing it to slide aside revealing a chamber with a fancy bed, curtains and tapestries of ancient scenes and peoples. On the bed they found what appeared from the art they had seen the king, in his resplendent robes and garb he looked as if he was still alive, except for the black blade of star and shadow piercing his chest. The wizards again attempted to identify the sword and found no success and a few of the party tried to grab it. They quickly found the sword to either be protected or cursed, it damaged anyone that touched it, causing them to waste away painfully. The centaur attempted to grapple it out of the king and found it unmovable. The swashbuckler attempted to cut it out and met with similar disaster. While they attempted to kill themselves, the monk looked at the back wall and disappeared from view, she had located a secret tunnel that lead behind the scenes. She went left first, eventually finding a locked gate with no visible key. The human wizard attempted to follow and eventually half the group was standing in the narrow hall and the other standing in the bedchamber. The old wizard snuck right down the hall and found a tower with mages implements as well as a large tome, that was locked. The swashbuckler came in and opened it with his thieves’ tools and they learned a bit about the culture, and connected the sword may have belonged to the ancient villain the old heroes had fought. The wizard took the book and the swashbuckler tied to take the skull of a dead bird. The wizard told him to put it back but the swashbuckler told him no, it was his. A shirt spat and argument blossomed, the wizard ending it by using charm person on the swashbuckler and it worked. He told the lizard to put the skull back so the swashbuckler just tossed it back over his shoulder. As the skull broke the lights faded, shadows took over the room and coalesced into a vulture demon, which attacked the party without mercy. The blood hunter and the ranger were the only ones not involved. Still, the six party members within the chamber made quick work of the denizen of the darker worlds, finding only dust in its wake and the skull nowhere to be found. 

Map made in Inkarnate