(G172 26/07/2013 Fri via Roll20 - JF(GM) , AP)

(G172 26/07/2013 Fri via Roll20 - JF(GM) , AP)

DAY 212 (9 Marpenoth)(October) continued ...

And so, around noon, young Fenrir went invisible and returned to the chamber of
Doctor Adenauer. He noticed on the way a Vampire Spawn bringing slain zombies and
piling them up in his room.

When the Spawn left he opened the door and revealed himself. HE tried to convince
the doctor to offer his healing for free. The Doctor was quite clear though,
he would need payment.

Fenrir, rather desperately, offered him some of the stolen silver but the Doctor just
snorted, 'You are trying to give me the Counts silver? Preposterous!'

In the end he gave the Doctor the magical amulet he'd used again Maaril in exchange
for some healing potions and took them back to where the others were camped.

On the way though, as he passed back through the empty chamber that was the ante room
before the living areas he came across a friendly ghoul. He suspected it mainly just
wanted to eat him and after some badinage blasted it to bits.
He then looted a magic scarab of golembane and the door key off it.

They rested in the trophy room until nine o'clock and were not disturbed. The crypt
was a silent and dark place where people did not move around much.

So, they set off again and the next room they tried was the chamber of Lothar the
Castilian. Upon seeing him Fenrir felt suddenly violently sick and Lothar quickly
gave him a bottle of golden liquid and told him to drink it.

Fenrir did so and felt instantly better. Once everyone else came in Lothar shut the
door and talked to them.
He warned Fenrir that he'd felt sick because of 'That horrible witch Katrina'. Lothar
was another one that wanted to see the Count dead though and gave them some items
to help with this, including his keys and a silver tipped stake.
It appeared the Count was not a popular fellow!

From Lothar's chamber they followed the corridor south and it lead out to a balcony
overlooking a mist shrouded courtyard. It was dark and ominous here and the darkness
was like a wall.

There were three doors on the east side though. The first door contained lots of
rusted weapons and armour. One suit of armour came to life, but Fenrir quickly blasted
it into ruin.

The next door lead to a much larger room that was home to a huge organ that hummed
loudly at the far east end. Fascinating as that was though, they had little change
to check it out as swarms of rats suddenly appeared from cracks in the walls and
floor.

Fenrir took to the air and Corum stepped right back leaving Hellion and Fred to
get the worst of it. Fred was covered head to foot in rats, but Hellion used
three cone of cold spells to freeze to death the multiple swarms of rodents.

Once that threat was taken care of they explored another chamber or two and then
came to the last door on the balcony which was the Count's living room.
Inside it was plushly decorated and comfortable but also inhabited by the Count's
per vampire bat and vampire weasel.

Hellion went in with the big guns again and hit the place with a fireball which
killed the weasel and left the bat rather stunned and an easy target for Fred's
meaty fists.

From here a door led into a dining room and then into an undecorated chamber that
held a single coffin where they were attacked by a spectre. This was a dangerous
foe as not even Fenrir's ethereal bolts were not always effective. Hellion used
some lightning bolts to try and damage it, but even they did not always hit but at
least the electricity healed Fred a little.

Fred was also immune to the spectre so it mainly targeted Hellion and Fenrir
pushing the wizard into a corner and draining him of some of his being.

Fenrir piled on the blasts but hit only a few times. Hellion finally used his
largest remaining spell - Ice Storm - and dealt it a severe blow. Fenrir finished
it off with a final blast.

Hellion was badly hurt and drained of much of his being and wanted to find a cleric
as quickly as possible, so he wished Fenrir and Corum good luck and teleported himself
and Fred out of the dungeon.

The two remaining brave fellows followed a corridor down some steps and around a switch
back and ended up back at the courtyard but down in the mist.

Using the Castilian's keys they entered the Count's inner crypt. Down this dark and
dingy corridor Corum fell straight into a sixty feet pit trap and was nearly killed.
Somehow though he still breathed and Fenrir flew down to help him.

The moved on into an area that was a cold, utterly dark maze of corridors and locked up
crypts. Most they avoided, but one that they found was open contained a ghost of a dead
female wizard who helped them with a ring of magic spells.

They then found themselves at a place where the only option seemed to be to go through
a crypt that contained a strange mummified skeleton, but Fenrir used his 'Theivesbane'
ability to good affect and set a trap for it on the door.
Once it was weakened by that it took only one eldritch blast to finish it off.

From this area some steps lead further down into a set of even dingier crypts. Eventually
they came to the one the Count was in.
He didn't seem that surprised to see them and was standing at the back of the large chamber
with his latest victim, a young woman called Nastassia.

Seeing that his vampiric domination had no effect on them he decided to parlay. Fenrir was
not really interested in this fellow even though half his household seemed to want him dead
and there was fairly obviously a maiden in need of rescue. By this time Corum was in a bit
of a daze and just going along with things.

Fenrir asked if the Count knew how to get out of Waterdeep but the Count only said,
'You seem like a useful young man. You should join me....'

As the vampire came forward Fenrir blasted it and they both fled through the door. Fenrir
trapped the doors as they fled though them but the Count was in gaseous form now and seeped
through the cracks in the frame.

Well, it may surprise you to know, that vampires, if you are lucky, are not impossible to
defeat as long as you deal enough damage very quickly. They heal quickly and can flee cunningly in
various forms, but, as Fenrir found out, two powerful ethereal magic blasts dead on target is
enough to put one down.

After they'd defeated him, they leapt on the Count, drove the stake through his heart and
chopped his head off!

Back at the crypt they unchained Nastassia and she used the small healing powers that she
possessed to help her rescuers a little. Just as they were deciding what to do next though
Katrina arrived in a cloud of gas.

She was happy that her brother was dead but when she tried (and failed) to dominate Fenrir
he attacked her and she fled the way she had come.

Sensibly at this point they then decided to leave the crypt as quickly as they could and then
the Necropolis. They were not attacked on the way out, perhaps Katrina had decided it was best
that they left her alone as well so she could claim her brother's place.

Nastassia guided them to the cellars of a ruined house were her people lived, a small group
of survivors. Here Fenrir and Corum were thanked with food and drink and a place to spend
the night.

One of the people that lived there knew of a strange well that was in a small courtyard at
the back of the Necropolis. He had no idea if it was a way out or not, but having heard of
it my brother and Fenrir decided it was well worth a look.

DAY 213 (10 Marpenoth)(October)

They left Nastassia's hideout in the afternoon and followed the directions they had been given
to the well.

It was situated in a small courtyard between three tall crypts. No one would have ever found it
without know where to look. It was indeed strange to look upon as on the outside it looked like
a normal stone walled well, but inside it was like a huge red gulping throat.

They didn't like the look of it much but Corum remembered the advice 'Head first and naked'
and began to strip off. Fenrir went first, diving straight down into the gullet. Corum
followed.

So that was the end of their time in Darknessdeep. What exactly the place was, or where it was,
perhaps will be explained later. They took a long time to traverse their way down the throat
and it was a very unpleasant experience, or so Corum told me later, but they suffered no ill
effects.

The next that Corum knew was that he was standing back in the grounds of the Artemel Villa in
the precise spot where he had been when Anya had found DeRosan. He was wearing the same
armour he had had on that night and even had his sword in his hand. Fenrir was nearby.

It was a cold and dark evening, they could see their breath in the pale twilight. They shared
a silent glance as they got their bearings and decided what to do next.