We come back to where we left off - A room with some dead Zombie Beholders
We head back to central area and go through the side door we ignored before.
Its unlocked. Followed by a locked door labeled “Basement” in Draconic.
We head down…
There are several tombs labeled as below:
- Ser Eldrin Malvernis
- ”Firstborn and Defender of the Line”
- Lady Vaelora Malvernis
- ”Whose Grief Turned to Vengeance”
- Thane Corvis Malvernis
- ”He Who Spoke to Shadows”
- Maera the Pale
- ”Last Daughter of the Dying House”
We go to open the top left door and wraiths come from the 4 labeled tombs.
We manage to take them out handily.
We enter the room and find another tomb, this time to Sereth Althon.
Set within a domed chamber lined with black marble and faded murals, two on either side are empty, but a stone sarcophagus in the center rests beneath a shattered crest bearing an open eye surrounded by chains.
Treeavenger cracks open the sarcophagus and all that is inside is a drakehide journal.
Bardon reads it.
“I was the keeper of his secrets. I who measured the hoard, who named the dead, who recorded each sin in ink and ash. Vauryx trusted none but me. Fools thought I was a servant—no, I was his memory. His conscience.” “When he shed his flesh and bound himself in undeath, I wept. He offered me the same gift. I declined. I was given it anyway.” “My body rots but my soul does not rest. He caged it—hid it in these pages—so I could never speak my name again.” “I have forgotten who I was. But if I ever remember… I will walk into the flame. And the vault will open.”
Treeavenger recognizes that the person mentioned is likely the Caretaker we ran into before. His real name, forgotten, Sereth Althon.
We go to open the door on the other side to find… nothing.
Treeavenger goes to crack open the tombs —
The first tomb contains:
- A Longsword +2
- A platinum signet ring (300g)
- 150g.
The second:
- An elegant black pearl choker set in gold (750 gp)
- A sealed crystal perfume vial labeled “Scent of Mourning” (enchanted to never run dry, 150 gp to the right buyer)
- 6 silver hairpins shaped like ravens (25 gp each)
Third:
- A polished obsidian orb wrapped in gold filigree (used in noble divination, 500 gp)
- A scroll case containing courtly letters, each with a noble’s wax seal (can be used as leverage or sold for 200 gp total)
- A coffer with 120 gp and 12 platinum pieces
Fourth:
- A funerary diadem of pale moonstone and sapphire (800 gp)
- A silk-lined jewelry box containing 3 jeweled rings (100 gp each)
- A diary bound in ivory and silver (not magical, but worth 100 gp for its historical value)
- A Ring of Protection
We head back up and to the Caretaker. The mural on the wall has the eye marked off now. Treeavenger really wants to give him the journal so we can get access to the vault.
He remembers who he is and tells us to call for him, that we will know when to do so. He tells us to head to Vauryx’s library. Through the gated steps we saw before.
Treeavenger seems to get stuck midway down the corridor, grappled by shadowy tendrils.
They get Bardon too, despite him lighting himself up before heading across.
I walk across because of the Ring of Free Action.
I check the door, and sure enough, definitely something behind it.
Pick the lock… Yup. Flaming Skulls and wights.
A skull fireball us as they do. The other shoots eye beams at me to no avail.
We manage to take them out, though the effect of the wights draining us is very annoying.
3 doors around us with the far doors being black stone slabs with no key.
The statues speak in unison:
Only Truth may open the vault. One of these speak falsehoods. Name the Liar or be denied.
Sword (Armor 1): “The mace does not lie.”
Axe (Armor 2): “I am the one who lies.”
Spear (Armor 3): “The sword speaks the truth.”
Mace (Armor 4): “Exactly one of us lies.”
I ignore the puzzling statues and check the doors. Outside the balcony I see a huge construct lumbering about.
I can see a large glowing symbol of blood on its back.
I head back inside and to the next door.
There is a large black mirror with a crack in it. I try looking into it, but almost find myself entranced by it. Bardon tries as well, and is just unaffected.
I check the last door to find a cracked marble bath.
Treeavenger tries it out… and gets sucked inside.
We manage to flip the tub and get him out though.
Thanks to Treeavenger we determine that the Greataxe was the liar.
And the door to the library opens!
Recite
Break Time
We examine the urn/goblet/chalice in the library.
We check the books in the room.
“Strength is not forged in comfort, but in agony. I shaped him—my Warden of Pain—from the screams of dying paladins and the steel of broken blades. He feels no fear, no fatigue, no betrayal. But all things born of magic bear a flaw. His is need. Should a mortal dare to strike the glyph branded into his back, they must offer something of equal worth—a weapon of power, soaked in ambition, willingly given up. Only then will the rune accept the blow. Only then will he fall. Cowards will fail. Only sacrifice opens the way.” --- Warden of Pain excerpt
“He was my first—bound not by chains, but by vow. The Warden of Oath does not guard. He waits. He will not stir until Wisdom and Pain lie shattered, for oaths are not taken lightly, and neither are mine. Only once the other Wardens fall will he emerge from the dark. And then he will speak a name. Just one. The challenge is sacred, and the answer must come in kind. Strike him down with another’s blade, and he will rise again. Wounds mean nothing. Only honor can kill him. The one he calls must finish it. Break his oath, and he will not die. Honor it… and he will not stand.”
”Gaze, if you dare, into the Mirror of Shattered Fates. It does not reveal what is, nor soothe with gentle truth. It reflects the broken paths not taken, the blood-soaked roads yet to come, and the torment that might have been yours… or may yet be. I forged this relic not for answers, but for anguish. Let it show you not who you are—but what you have failed to become."
"The waters of the Bath of Remembrance are still, untouched by time, and clear as crystal. Yet do not be deceived, for beneath the surface stirs a presence—slow, patient, and relentless. It waits, watching, with ancient hunger. It waits for you, and when you step into its waters, it will remember you."
"Let it be known, by claw and flame, that my hoard shall not be taken by greedy hands or clever minds alone. The wealth of Vauryx, the Crimson Doom, lies cloaked in sacrifice. Only the worthy—those who would surrender what they hold most dear—may gaze upon its brilliance. My treasures are not claimed. They are earned… in death.”
I find a sheet of music that falls out of a book onto the ground, it contains a note on the back:
“This organ was not crafted for the ears of the living. Its notes are woven from the screams of those long past, each note carrying the weight of the dead. Let none who still draw breath attempt to play it, for the music it creates is not meant to stir mortal hearts. The melodies that echo from its pipes are the lamentations of souls bound to the eternal void. They are not for you, fleshborn, for they belong to the forgotten.”
Bardon tries to lasso the chalice/phylactery thing but accidently touching it caused his soul to be absorbed by the chalice.
Treeavenger and I shatter it and Bardon’s soul returns, but the chalice reforms.
Treeavenger remembers that there is no phylactery for a Dracolich. It stores it’s soul in a soul gem instead. So who’s phylactery is this?
We head back, with intent to find the Trial of Pain that I saw from the balcony earlier.
We pass back through and head to the double door. I unlock it.
We find a knight sitting at the end of the hall. The door on the left is a black steel door with the mural symbols on it. The knight is likely the Trial of Oath.
We head out the right to the Trial of Blood.
And find more sentinels of sorts on the other side.
We quickly take them out.
Three massive levers are embedded in the doorframe, each labeled in glowing Infernal script:
Suffering Obedience Strength
Above them, engraved into the metal, is a single cryptic line:
“From anguish, to silence, to wrath—so was he forged in flame.”
Sounds like left to right honestly?
Bardon tries… and it is!
We enter the fray to take it out!
I go unconscious at one point, but with Bardon and Treeavenger’s help we manage to take it out. Treeavenger sacrifices the Longsword we found in the basement to finish it off.
We take a short rest in the nearby room. The Trial of Oath ahead of us.
We head into the room. The knight waiting for us to initiate the challenge.
He calls out to Treeavenger first. Implying he will call to each of us in turn. I try throwing a dagger at him. It seems to harm him, but he is unhappy we broke our vow and strikes us with a wave of destruction.
He goes round, calling to each of us in turn. We learn our lesson and wait for him to call on us before striking.
As he weakens, we see spectral chains on him break. He calls out that the oath is broken. It seems we are no longer bound the solo requirements.
We strike together.
With much effort, we manage to strike him down, with a dagger to the back.
The final seal comes undone and the door opens.
We head off to the room with the unkindled bonfire and use the kindling we acquired to light it. Enjoying the regenerating benefits of the fire for ourselves before heading to Vauryx.
Recite
END SESSION