Red Hand of Doom - Session 21-22: Ghoslty Institute

July 7

As the Daring Friends rowed toward Lordrhest, they passed by the region of ghostly presences and saw a tower leaning in the distance.

As they approached, the tower disappeared for the robed Camwise, and in its place, he saw ghosts meandering about as if they were living in the tower. Some of them were beneath the marsh’s water level.

Gruffudd transformed into an octopus and investigated the tower from under the marsh. He emerged having found a door twenty feet down and descended again with Balthasar.

They emerged to say they were confronted by a sentinel that challenged them for not being human. They submerged again with Camwise and Dameron in tow.

Once Camwise and Dameron were left alone with the golem sentinel, it receded into the stone. As Dameron dragged Camwise to the nearby stairway, yellow lights at the base of the stairs turned red and the golem challenged them again. They retreated to the surface with Gruffudd and Balthasar.

After Camwise cast Detect Magic, they descended again. Dameron pressed the panel and the golem did not challenge them as they entered. Camwise cast Dispel Magic and the lights went out. After emerging for air, they submerged again and went up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, they emerged from the water into a circular corridor lined with five doors on the inner walls. Camwise detected magical wards on the doors. The last door had additional wards. At the end of the corridor were stairs going further up. Camwise detected more wards on the stairs.

Dameron opened the first door where Camwise detected a ghost inside. Dameron and the ghost began writing messages to each other using their magical writing implements. As they were writing, a golem descended from above and attacked. The golem was almost defeated when Camwise convinced the ghosts to give him a command word to deactivate the sentinel.

The ghosts introduced themselves as Felix and Isabella. Isabella possessed Camwise and explained that a few hundred years had passed. She eventually led them down a spiral staircase in the tower’s center to the basement.

Once in the basement, the door locked behind them and an iron guardian emerged from a panel in the far wall in front of a portal that Isabella said was not supposed to be there.

As the iron guardian attacked, the far south sconce began to spark and Dameron cast Bless. Balthasar engaged the guardian, striking over and over with his sword. Dameron hit it with his Spiritual Weapon and Sacred Flame. The guardian breathed a cone of poisonous gas into the room, dropping Camwise until Gruffudd used his staff to cast Mass Cure Wounds to revive him. Rising, Camwise cast Haste on Balthasar as a bolt of lightning flashed from one sconce to the other, scorching the guardian. Dameron bloodied the guardian with a Lightning Bolt as it breathed poison on Balthasar and Gruffudd. Predicting that the guardian was going to miss its next attack, Camwise blasted it with Magic Missiles as a sheet of ice sprayed harmlessly from one sconce to the other. Balthasar used his lightning grasp to pull the guardian between the sconces. Shifting across the chamber, Dameron and Gruffudd both hit the guardian with Lightning Bolts. Acid sprayed harmlessly from one sconce to the other. The guardian was barely standing from another round of Camwise’s Magic Missiles and Balthasar’s strikes when Dameron destroyed it with his last Lightning Bolt which also broke one of the scones.

The far wall with the portal completely disappeared and a larger chamber appeared. In the center of the chamber was a sarcophagus chained to a dais. Ominous sounds emanated from the chamber.

In the portal, Dameron and Balthasar saw a vision of a collapsed building with a hatchery of Greenspawn Razorfiends. The room was filled with basins, statues, components, and two locked chests.

While Camwise was casting Comprehend Languages, 4 lemurs emerged from the portal. Dameron commanded them to return to whence they came, and they retreated back into the portal.

Camwise and Dameron felt something rifling through their packs and saw their belongings floating in the air. Dameron cast Spirit Guardians on two imps stealing their things. Meanwhile a pack of lemurs emerged from the portal. While Camwise continued casting his spell, Balthasar and Dameron slew the imps and the lemurs.

Camwise figured out how to shut down the portal, and did so after Dameron had a divine sense that doing so would have ambivalent results.

Once the portal was closed, the door opened. They retrieved their companions from outside and rested for the night in the basement.