Session Nine (Graveyard of Empires Summary)

We start in a Dwarven chamber filled with sarcophagi. Thorfus checks the area for anything amiss, but he finds nothing unusual upon his first inspection. He is slightly wary of one sarcophagus in particular, but he is uncertain if it is dangerous. Tarion is able to find a hidden door, and both Tarion and Axel are able to see something sketchy about the tapestries in the room. There are no chalk marks by the hidden door, so it would seem that the prior expeditions had not found it. As the party discusses what traps they may find they begin to become aware of a steady hum. Outside the door, there is a higher pitched hum that seems to be coming closer. The party decides to hide behind a tapestry in hope of avoiding the possible danger. Whatever is making the sound eventually enters the room, and Galron decides to take a look. He sees a floating orb the appears to have electricity jolting across its surface. It is a metallic, bronze-ish, shade that is approximately the size of a human head. Upon the exit of the strange thing, the party searches on. We see a mirroring burial room for female Dwarves. Strangely enough there does not seem to be any religious symbols in the room.

Tarion manages to find a button and, after deliberation, it is decided that Peret should push the button. The carving moves, and lets out a puff of pleasant smelling air. Shortly after, another button is found, and Galron pushes the button this time. Much of the same thing happens. We open one of the sarcophagus’ and happen upon a lovely tiara that seems to be worth a pretty penny. We go through the hall and encounter a gate. Unfortunately after valiant attempts the party is not able to bend the gate.

The party doubles back and finds a gold chain that seems to be worth a good amount of gold. We take another route and find another gate, although this one is already bent. The party carries on, and find more chalk markings from the previous group. Eventually they find one chalk marking that is different from the previous markings. Thorfus checks for anything that may be a trap, and he finds a pressure plate. He quickly marks it and tells the group of the danger. The party slowly moves forward, checking for traps all along the way. We find a strange mechanism in the ground after we pass the trap, and the decision is made to poke it with a big stick. After Thorfus pokes it, there is a very loud bong sound that reverberates throughout the halls. After a small amount of exploration, Thorfus hears a Automaton coming up. He manages to tie a string up in hopes of tripping it. The party readies themselves for combat, and the machine topples over pathetically. After the machine falls it is destroyed before it manages to stand. We find that the room that it was guarding has a large statue with jewels laid to appear like stars. They appear to be in the shape of the constellation, the Silver Throne.

After the constellation room, we find what appears to be the place of a death from another expedition. There seems to be some kind of floor trap that has the mark of the Arc, signaling a death of a follower. We decide to go back into the room with the statue and as we approach it, speaks to us. It says that it is the resting place of a powerful ancient Dwarven family, and that they were the keepers of the gear lore. It advises us that some things we do may set off more traps.

After that exchange, the party decided that the best plan was to come back to the statue room with more information, and to move on to the door. Thorfus manages to open i and we stumble upon a hallway that is not quite finished. We carry on and come to a ladder. We travel on, and find a small 5x5 room. Thorfus searches the room, and manages to find a false wall that opens. Inside is yet another sarcophagus. Also in the room is a locked door. It appears to be neither ancient nor Dwarven. We fail at trying to open the door, but we open the sarcophagus. Inside there is a body that was covering a lever. Engaging the lever causes one of the walls to close in, and releasing the lever causes it to move back. We check out the keyhole of the door and see sunlight and some greenery. After asking Peret where we might be, he says that we’re probably on the grounds of the university. After he leaves we pull the lever, and get out of the room. We move on and find another room that we suspect a trap in, however, before we can address the issue, we hear a sound coming from the hallways. It is a very distinctive thud and a scrape. We move away from it at first, but it is persistent in its following. We decide to stand and fight it, and we see something that appears to be a dead human with the top of its head chopped off and a hammer for an arm. It i dispatched quickly, and once its head was opened we found an evil cube of rock. We travel back to the room where we thought there was a trap, and thankfully we test the room first. We touch the trap with a pole, and the north wall comes crashing into the south wall and does not move from there. We double back and search for the hidden area that the zombie had come from, and we find two stone blocks that can be depressed. We push the buttons and a part of the wall moves to the side and reveals a passageway. We end in a 20x30 room that has two sarcophagi, a tapestry, and stairways headed down.