Centrum Glacies Session 129: Fighting through the Crypt
Week 129 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party fights their way through a crypt.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture, psychological warfare, child abuse, and slavery.
Most recently, the party helped cause a complete planetary genocide. Save a few survivors, no one remains from that world. They are still grappling with this unfathomable loss of life and their role in making it happen. It is clear that their suffering is far from over. They can only hope they don’t cause untold pain to an even more untold more.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
Jyona dropped the heads of the slain Cultists at Trent and Obrom’s feet and growled “Give my cut to Teztcal.” This was a far cry from how she had felt about this commission before they entered this crypt.
Trent tried to tell her to calm down, but upon a closer look, saw she was in fact calm when he looks her in the eyes. Still, this calmness was unsettling. A clash of personality traits that kept Trent on edge.
Skeletons and Banshees
They continued onward through the crypt. Eventually they came to two rooms branching off in different directions from a narrow hallway. And neither of these rooms were empty. Below they saw ghosts that were bloodied and furious: Banshees. And ahead, they saw hulking skeletons with horns: Minotaur Skeletons.
As these creatures were Undead and most likely commanded by Olenna, the monsters were immediately hostile. But Teztcal made the first move. And afforded a few seconds for the rest of the group to attack before the Undead with their slow reflexes didn’t react immediately.
Trent and Obrom took on the Banshees and got battered by the by them as they screamed death in their final moments. Meanwhile, Jyona in her Demon form blocked the hall so that the Minotaur Skeletons could only attack her. Since their weapons were not enchanted, they could not harm her.
This led to an easy victory and after some healing, Trent and Obrom were back on their feet too. But they didn’t have time to recoup before Olenna visited them again. This was her crypto after all.
She sneered at their victory while noting that the Banshees had seemed quite effective. With a few more parting words, she claimed that if they left this place too soon, they would miss out in something interesting. The group didn’t know whether to trust her words or not as she once again vanished.
Mummies
Moving deeper into the crypt, the party found a room with coffins. And Jyona, who could see Magic sensed a lot of it inside those coffins, specifically Necromancy. No surprise given that all the other dead in this place had moved.
Before anyone, likely Teztcal given past behavior were able to mess with the coffins in any way, Mummies rose out from them and attacked the party. Their very touch was dangerous. And Jyona realized right away that she had been cursed as several of the monsters tried to bash her face in with their fists.
But against a party so adept at using Fire Magic, Mummies stood little chance at victory. Less than a minute into battle, the creatures had disintegrated. Certain that no more monsters would defend the coffins, Obrom dug through them. He found plenty of gold as well as an enchanted Staff of some kind.
Jynoa grew excite at this discovery. Her intense and brooding behavior melted away as she transformed back to her Half-Elf form to identify the item. She quickly figured it out. This was a Staff that allowed the holder to cast Chill Touch. A meaningful item for the Bard who lacked a lot of spells capable of doing damage directly.
Now that Jyona was back in her normal form, she wasn’t immune to magic anymore, including from allies. Trent cast Greater Restoration to remove the curse from the Mummies.
Wrap Up
The party still has more to explore in this crypt. And they might have to decide soon whether to listen to Olenna’s words or flee this place.