Abomination Vaults Session 5
Published:
7 Pharast 4721: The Otari Fishery Camp and the Graveyard
The party continues to clear out the Otari Fishery Camp. Corbin rejoins the others–and not one minute too late! Two sewer oozes give the group some trouble and Rizzard falls unconscious after a cruel strike by one of the oozes. Corbin comes to the rescue and destroys the enemy with the help of his occult knowledge.
Eventually, they face off with a Web Lurker and two Giant Spiders. Again, Corbin strikes true, while a summoned servitor by Arryn provides essential protection to the party. Victory is claimed and the party celebrates in anticipation of the offered reward of 50 gp.
They decide to return to town the same night, despite their weary bones. They arrive at the Eastern cliff around 10:30 pm and encounter an odd sight: a pale-ghostly light shines from the Gauntlight onto Otari’s graveyard.
As they approach town, they hear the sounds of turmoil and panic. A scene of horror presents itself: the dead have risen from the graveyard and throw themselves from the Western cliff onto the Dawnflower Library.
The heroes rush to the graveyard. Greeted by four terrified town guards, they enter the starkly illuminated boneyard.
As they carefully step between the old tombstones and family crypts, swaying bodies approach from the shadows. What seems like nearly a dozen of shambling corpses and rattling skeletons surges towards them, an unnatural force glimmering in their empty eyes.
Azgaz’ wild swings, Rizzard’s mighty spellstrike, Arryn’s godly prayers, and Corbin’s methodical strikes end the fiends’ unlife. For a second, quiet returns to the graveyard. A light breeze carries away the crumbling remains of the undead–it seems as if Pharasma herself is acknowledging the deed of the heroes.
Suddenly, the eerie light from the Gauntlight tower flickers, re-focuses, and intensifies. Bright-blue light blinds the group and they see the outline of a strange, spider-like creature appear among them. A split second later, the light dies and the graveyard is plunged into complete darkness. Out of the shadows, a bony, oily thorn flies, like a dagger, at Rizzard. A wet sound. Then, warm, thick liquid spurts from his neck, coating a screaming town guard’s face, as Rizzard’s lifeless body hits the ground…
Despite the shock of the moment, Corbin remembers having read about a creature like this. A hand-written note, scribbled in the margins of a moldy tome: “If you are wise, run for your life. If you are foolish, fight to the end–with fire.”