Kythorn 27, 1491 DR
The three ghouls came charging, howling and shrieking at Farooq in the doorway, clanging and clashing against his armor and shield. Farooq was well placed to defend the doorway against these foes. But the blood curdling shrieks of the ghouls were soon echoed by more howls from the north, behind the PCs. Soon they found themselves fighting a two to three front war as the ghouls circled and came at them from multiple angles.
Ara turned into a great white tiger and used his large form to position for both attacks and as a defensive barrier protecting his friends from attacks from the south. All of the PCs performed well as spear, sword, claws, arrows and radiant light blasted through the ghouls. Gundren and Nash were wounded, with Nash succumbing to the poisonous claws of the ghouls, temporarily paralyzing him.
They decided to barricade themselves into the ancient barracks they had just discovered and settled in for a short rest to catch their breaths and bind their wounds. They decided that their next course would be to head south through the other door in the room and see what lay beyond. Listening carefully all seem quiet except for the distant sound of fluttering bats. They moved out into a four way intersection and continued south into a wide cave which held 3 other exits at the cardinal points.
The group was soon swarmed by strange bat-like creatures with 4 sets of wings, vicious pincer claws and long blood sucking proboscises. The Strirges attacked with a frenzy and several attached to Farooq, Nash and Tiger Ara, deeply drinking of their blood. The attached creatures had to be pried off before they could be dispatched. The battle was more shocking than it was difficult. Never had they seen such creatures. The sheer number of creatures managed to slip a few treacherous attacks through on Farooq, who was badly bloodied and was healed by Ara's Healing Spirit spell.
Confirming that one of the passages connected to the tunnel leading to the rift near the entry chamber, they decided to shift gears and head back north to explore. They came upon a half collapsed storage room with a door in the north that opened up into an intact storage room with dozens of barrels broken from age. The door was fairly sturdy and it might make a good rest spot in the future.
From there they travelled north and encountered a large expansive chamber, divided into three separate sections. Two raised escarpments on the east and west, with a lower middle section. This appeared to be a large feast hall or gathering chamber with several large tables in the middle and a lone table dominating the east raised section. Dozens of ancient dwarven, gnome, orc and ogre skeletons attested to the great battle that once took place here long ago.
Looking to the north, moving shadows were noticed and it was determined that they were zombies. A plan was hatched to lure the brainless undead down into the large chamber to be easily killed. Farooq took his position in the tunnel with Ara's bonfire beside him. The plan worked fairly well, as Farooq held off the brunt of the attack, marking any who got past him through the fire. The rest of the group used ranged weapons to good effect. The plan almost went off without a hitch.
Flanking around from a different hallway came a small, burning, green flamed skull with glowing red eyes. It promptly fire-balled everyone in the party except Farooq, who was in the tunnel. Gundren and Finder both fell immediately and it left the rest of the group seriously injured. The group returned fire and seemed to damage the skull, as Keeper used a healing potion on her brother Finder. Keeper leapt after the skull, but it retreated up the hall it came down.
The rest of the zombies were destroyed and Farooq took an attack of magic missiles from the northern chamber, seemingly from the green flame skull. Finder pulled Gundren from the stairs to safety while Farooq ran north into the room with his torch and leapt over a part of an ancient apparatus to get at the skull, but the skull moved away again blasting him with more missiles. Keeper and Ara had just made it into the northern room when she saw a piece of the glowing skull and fired her arrow, killing it.
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