An untamed frontier. Dark cults. Fickle fey gods. Ravenous fiends. Nothing black powder and sorcery won't fix... . Timberlands Campaign Diary
The heroes surveyed the foreboding edifice of a tomb dating back to the fall of the Empire of Enuk’Lun from the ridge above. Past a flight of wide stairs lay a large depression in the earth covered in dead trees and clinging mist. Within that stretch of land wandered terrible creatures made from twisted vegetation and humanoid skulls, lichbloom (reskinned nothics with a gaze attack, no secret steeling and plants instead). The miscreations wandered around a giant specter that watched the area from within a runic circle, the edges of said circle flanked by four Grim Visages of Enuk’lun facing inward. Despite the distance, Ea the bearfolk wizard determined that the magic circle had summoned the massive apparition, but it was the inward-facing Grim Visages that bound it into place. If all four of the faces were turned away, the ghost would be free to move.
To complicate matters, on the rise where the tomb’s open entrance sat flanked by stone-carved skulls a pair of wendigos along with a wendigo soulhunter. (from Nameia's Crimson Tome [DMs Guild])The odds weren’t great, but our party of heroes had a gaggle of allies they’d gathered with them. Besides the ever-present goblin warlock, Niq, they were also now accompanied by the sheriff of Tichner Fork, Monl Stant, and two of his deputies all armed with muskets. Likewise, they’d picked up Henrich Eaglespur, a noble scion who wasn’t too bad with pistol along with Henrich’s celestial-powered companion, the hound named Dodger. The sheriff and his men took up position on the ridge alongside the party’s tabaxi Ranger, Wild. Ea settled into a safe vantage point as well, ready to rain spells.
It was decided that Skyes the eladrin assassin and Riley the changeling dervish would sneak through the misty field with Niq to the right, while Aelric the satyr bloodhunter, and Henrich would circle left. Once bullets and blades started flying, Ea would surround the grand apparition with a circular wall of fire to make sure it couldn’t interfere. The three melee-focused heroes crept forward, unseen by most of the enemies… but not all. The wendigo soulcatcher tilted its head and sniffed at the air.
Sykes and Riley launched themselves at the lichbloom on the right, while Aelric did the same on the left. They cut down several of the arboreal abominations before the alerted soulcatcher could react. It summoned a howling wind that tugged at the dead trees and made the earth heave as if it was breathing. Riley was knocked to the ground, while the other heroes moved unsteadily. Ea enrobed the apparition in a wall of fire, and it sighed despondently as it looked like things were getting interesting. Wild and the lawmen opened fire, cutting down more lichblooms and sinking shots into the wendigos.
It wasn’t long, though, before the heroes put down the horrors. The heroes didn’t walk away unscathed, however with Aelric suffering deep wounds from the bite of the soulcatcher and Riley torn by the lesser wendigo’s claws. It drained Niq of all of his healing magic to get them prepared for the next fight. In the meantime, Ea surmised that the apparition had been grumbling in the lost Tongue of Enuk’Lun about not seeing the excitement. As the wall of fire faded, the agriothier wizard replied in the same language.
The specter was pleased that someone could understand him and explained he was Ogu’rer of the Tower of Supplication, a wizard-priest of Enuk’Lun who had been tasked in the afterlife with keeping an eye on this tomb. Past the doors rested the undead remains of Ipqu-Annunitum, also known as Ipqu the Bleeder. This was as the heroes expected. Ogu’rer was among the wizard-priests who had cast the lich down in the century after the collapse of the empire. They’d never found the lich’s phylactery, so they sealed him away instead. However, recently some unknown force had broken the wards on the tomb. Alas, as long as the Grim Visages were pointed at Ogu’rer he could not do what he needed to repair them.
The apparition also recognized Ea’s order, the Annunaki, and was glad to see a member of that honored servant class still existed in this far-flung age. He listened to Ea’s quest, to find the wizard-priestess Ereshkigal. Ogu’rer did not know where she lay, but promised if Ea visited the Tower of Supplication, he would assist him. Ea relayed as much as the other heroes needed to know about the trapped apparition. Sykes recalled that there had been a warning scrawled on a map they’d found in an empire-era ziggurat months ago (session 3) "Ogu'rer awaits in the Tower Of Supplication. Never open it gates." Despite this, Ea convinced the rest of the party to free Ogu’rer.
Thankfully the spirit was true to its word. With the Grim Visages pointed away, Ogu’rer shrunk to human-sized and floated over to inspect the eye sockets of the large skull carvings flanking the tomb’s entrance. He explained that he could repair the runes, but to activate them the heroes would need to vanquish whatever was drawing power from their magic within. The party assumed that this aligned with their goals of riding the region of the wendigo, so they agreed to head inside. Ea sent in his familiar to scout ahead.
The sepulcher consisted of three terraces linked by wide steps and was unadorned. Assembled within the gray, joyless abode were lines of stickmen (reskinned scarecrows) and lichblooms. At the back was a glass sarcophagus with a foreboding crack and standing beside it a wendigo thrumming with vibrant blood. The unnatural things were ready and waiting for a fight. The heroes were all to willing to give it to them.
It wasn’t long before the party got into the thick of it. The line of stickman shambled forward, and Ea pushed forward with the intent of blowing them to splinters with a fireball, only to have the bloodmage wendigo counter the spell. Riley and Sykes crashed into the stickman line, hacking a few to pieces even if they knew they’d be surrounded. It didn’t talk long for that to happen, while Aelric and Henrich tried to skirt the conflict to get to the main target. The lichbloom moved in the way and slowed those brave souls down.
Traveling on jets of hot vitae, the bloodmage moved to remove the greatest threat from the board; the wizard Ea. The bearfolk fellow screamed as his blood rioted out of his veins in an explosion of gore and what remained burned like acid. Worried that their line would fold, Sykes summoned magical darkness over the flank she and Riley held. Together they started cutting down the stickmen with little threat back. Ea managed to get off a fireball and wipe a big chunk of stickmen out, but flattered.
Wild worked on whittling down lichblooms as the bloodmage kept moving, using the darkness to break a line of sight. When the ranger had a chance, the bloodmage had summoned copies from the blood to defend itself. Aelric and Henrich pushed forward, joined by Sykes and Riley. All the while, Niq the goblin desperately tried to keep the now downed Ea from dying. The celestial warlock was out of spells, and resorted to pouring healing potions down to the screaming, twitching bearkfolk’s throat.
Before the heroes could rush the bloodmage wendigo, it summoned a spear of blood that pulled its way through each hero and then conjured a pool of whipping sanguine tendrils to slow them down. Peppered by vile spells, the champions forged on until they caught up with the horror. Riley whittled down the bloodmage’s fresh round of mirror images, Wild got a few arrows into its horrid forms and finally, Aelric landed to killing blow.
The tomb fell silent save the heroes’ labored breathing. Its grey stone was spattered with more blood than any of them had in the veins. Warily, the heroes approached the cracked coffin… after using the last of their healing magics to get Ea back on his paws. Inside was the deteriorated remains of Ipqu-Annunitum. Most of the lich’s body had turned to dusk covering a frayed robe. One hand remained, holding a jeweled scepter, and there was his skull that was adored with jewel teeth and larger gems in their eyes. The party recognized it for what it was, a demilich. Opening the glass would spell their door. Likely the cracks in the glass had allowed Ipqu-Annunitum’s influence to spread. Thus, the heroes took some time to magically mend it.
Outside they spoke with Ogu’rer, and the apparition finished fixing the wards. The prison of Ipqu the Bleeder was closed once more. Ogu’rer returned to his post and bade the party farewell, again offering Ea an invitation to the Tower of Supplication as well as revealing its location far to the south, past the Agriother Warlord’s territory. The champions took a well-deserved rest and headed back to Tichner Fork.
A few days later, just outside of Tichner Fork, where they had met the gemstone wyrmlings (Session 26), the party spotted two large pavilions from which laugher and music drifted. Curious, the heroes approached with the hope of some luxury out in the wilds. However, Aelric and Ea noticed odd disturbances in the dirt and moved to investigate one instead.
The rest of the heroes and their allies found the tents empty of people, but full of food, drink, and the sounds of revelry. They also found that they were moving slower or altogether stuck. Aleric and Ea shouted as a giant trapdoor spider burst from the ground, while the rest of the heroes watched in horror as a Figment Spider ate one of the sheriff’s men and the rest of its giant arachnid brood moved in. No more heroes fell, though, as the heroes unleashed hell upon the spiders. Their blades and spells quickly put the trapdoor spiders down, and the Figment Spider (reskinned Phase Spider with illusional abilities) disappeared from the view and didn’t return once it realized it was terribly outnumbered. The illusion of the tent fell away, revealing the massive web network that the arachnids had woven. The heroes made sure to burn it down and decided to press on through the night to reach the nearby village.
Once in Tichner Fork, Sheriff Monl bid them goodbye and thanks, returning to his wife, the renderer Glansi Stant. Henrich and his dog Dodger, who lost its celestial glow, joined the heroes at the smuggler’s boots. Henrich’s valet and ally, Irveen bought the first round and Henrich the rest. After a good night of drinking and food, the heroes got the real rest they sorely needed. In the morning, they were visited by the mayor and paid heftily for their deeds. But the second leg of their duties remained… finding the source of the direflies somewhere north along Tichner River.
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