#session 1 the doomvault

[draumrfold]

Doomvault: Raise the Dead

I feel my consciousness return to me, my eyes are already wide open. I try to focus, and I take in the room around me. It’s a large dank chamber, with a few undead and weird creatures I’ve never seen before. Sensing panic in the back of my mind, I try to move for my quarterstaff only to find I can’t move at all. I struggle, wiggling with all my might, not moving a single inch.

My body tingles, and I feel weaker like energy is leaving my life force. I need to find a way to get out of this and find my companions. The crazy man we found in the crypt must have come to, followed us, and overtaken us somehow. The last thing I remember is fighting giant spiders that were half phasing in and out of our plane.

Hours pass, the horrors roam around the shrine that holds me captive, never getting near thankfully. I’ve given up trying to wiggle out of this, and instead focus of meditating, conserving my Ki, stroking my life force as I feel it slip away from me. If I don’t figure a way out of this then I will die. What an end, I think sarcastically to myself.

I hear the heavy doors smash open and a group of adventurers enters the chamber. I watch them take out the monsters one by one. The smallest of the group, a halfling by the looks of him makes his way up to my prison. First, he tries to walk right up to me, a magical barrier throws him backward. His next attempt is to use some kind of magical portal, which works until he is blasted backward again. By this time the rest of the monsters have been defeated, and the group comes over to my prison. I hear them talking about how to get me down. It takes them quite a while, and with a lot of failures mixed in. Eventually, though they knock over a pillar and I feel the bindings lifted.

I fall to my knees, swallowing for breath. I’ve never been in the need of rescuing, and these people clearly are not my companions. The small one comes up to me and introduces himself as BoBo, extending a hand. I take it and when I open my mouth I think I introduce myself but babble comes out as well. Shock. I’m in shock. I must have been up in that thing longer than I thought, I sit back on my heels and try to collect my thoughts. Another of the companions comes up to me, Ashah, and offers me her waterskin, I accept it,  cautiously, thankingly, and slowly sip from it. Again I try to talk and more babble comes out. Less crazy though I think. Still not really coherent. I take a moment and try again. “Where am I?” I manage. They inform me I am in something called the Doomvault.

BoBo comes back towards me, I’m still sitting on the ground, and he sits in front of me explaining how it sounds like I’ve been plane shifted. Which means I have no idea where  Maelin or Aura is or if I’ll even see them again. I really hate that freaking wizard! He said something like this was possible! I hope he falls into one of the tears himself. I am utterly annoyed, and now I find myself in a room with people who I don’t know or trust. Nor do I know whether they are deserving of trust.

For now, I will travel with them, fight with them, aid them, the best I can until we are out of this hell hole. Then I will have to figure out how to get back to my plane I guess. 

In the next chamber, we find a red wizard. These are apparently very evil people here. There is also something called the Red Keep that they keep mentioning. I’m not really sure of any of this so I try to just lend my fists the best that I can. We also learn that something called “The Lynch” is attempting to become a God by use of siphoning the life forces of victims who are held as I was in Shrines of Binding.  

The chamber after that holds not only monsters but also a piece of shit of a halfling, this creature felt compelled to not only insult my honor but also touch me...needless to say, I broke his nose. If I knew my new companions better I wouldn’t bother holding back, but I am trying to stay on their good side, and losing control is often not how one should do that. I notice the high elf, I believe his name is Talrean, looking at me after that interaction; if he has something to say he should just say it. I decide to ignore him and continue on with the party into the next chamber.

Here we face the same monsters we’ve seen in the previous chambers when we start work on releasing the creature trapped within the Shrine, Talrean tells us that this is a Yaun-ti, they are a vial race and we should kill it. Which is exactly what we do after some debate. He was a formidable opponent I must admit. I am finding I am more powerful on the plane than the last, I feel a stronger connection to my Ki, and when meditating, Ki flows within me more in harmony, which is then translated to battle by not only my quick and devastating attacks but also through my flowing swift movements. Maybe I was meant to come to this plane. 

While we were resting Bo Bo had some very strong alcohol, which made him extremely drunk, it was quite a sight! He led us through to the next room. He was able to sense how many foes were waiting for us, which considering his drunken state, was very impressive. He also attempted to hit on the female half-elf we rescued. I liked her, she seemed very capable. She didn’t stick around though, which is fine, she probably made it out ok. She seemed to know where she was going. 

This place seems like a never-ending maze of chambers and hallways I was bringing up the rear when I hear BoBo from the front in a very drunk voice “Maybe we should just go home?” Is that even an option for these people? They seem very intent on their goal of clearing the place. In front of us, I see why BoBo made that remark; we encountered yet another being I’ve never seen, it was called a Flesh Golem.  We end up not having to battle it and I watch as the others speak with the man that was in the room. He has a skeleton key and a tey to turmoil which we take from him. The golem stays where it is, unmoving, the entire time we are in the room. Someone in the group surmises that there must not be a control rod around to control the Golem. 

The next chamber has the most foes we have encountered thus far. Including a powerful mage called an Evoker. Our battle lasts what feels like for hours. BoBo does manage to get himself into quite a few pickles though, first, he is surrounded by undead after being beat on pretty badly. I tried my best and stunned 3 out of my 4 targets. He is whisked away by Galadin, to what I assume is safety as I didn’t see him for the rest of battle. One of the undead manages to shake off my blows and turns its attention to me. Talrean runs his dagger through it and destroyed it, he nods, as though I should be thankful, and motions to the other enemies. I give him a look back as though to say “no shit, we have bigger problems” and leap into my next attack. 

While we might have won the battle, we also lost a friend. BoBo while he was whisked to safety, he also gave his life protecting his friends. I don’t think I have ever felt so many emotions from the others as I did in that chamber. All was quite as Ashah took BoBo to the previous chamber, I hear Malidin shout in rage, and as I come out of the hallway I see him pummeling the flesh golem into the ground. Then turn to see Ashah chanting and setting up a ritual. I take a place on the steps of the destroyed shrine and watch, staying quiet, and giving them plenty of space. I suddenly feel very out of place, as though I am intruding. 

Ashah sets out three candles before she sets to work. Galadin comes over and pleas for BoBo to return to us. One of the candles ignites.  Then Talrean takes a small horn from his belt and grids in up, as well as one of the bottles of strong potion that had made BoBo intoxicated earlier, and mixes the two together, asking for BoBo to return. Another of the candles ignites. Galadin goes over to Malidin, and convinces him to come and speak as well. He has few words to say, but perhaps they are the most powerful. The third and final candle ignites. A moment passes and BoBo awakens coughing.

I am relieved to see BoBo still lives, we move into the hallway for a long rest to recover from the ritual and battle.    

[draumrfold]

The Doomvault, the place I now find myself.