In the former bugbear lair, the party awakens to growing light filtering down from the excavated shaft above them. After the normal preparations at the start of the day, including devotions and prayers by Routunious and spell memorization by Stago, they move down the passage to the double stone doors adjacent to where the giant spider had made its lair.
Selina tries to pick the lock, but is unsuccessful. Tick-a-Tick takes one of the looted axes from the dead bugbears and hammers at the door with the weapon. After a few minutes of punishment, the axe breaks. The automaton picks up the second axe and continues to hammer at the door. This axe, too, eventually is destroyed but before it is, the door gives way.
7:15 am
Cautiously, the party enters the room beyond the broken stone doors. It is illuminated by the glow of the continual light spell Routunious has cast on his hat. Inside, a large stone sarcophagus dominates the far wall of the room, and bright bits of gold wink from within the dust that covers the floor.
Selina checks for traps. She finds and disarms one on the sarcophagus. Tick-a-Tick lifts the stone lid off. Inside, we see the skeleton of a knight laid in repose. It holds a rusted morning star and a javelin. Strapped to its back is a sword. The sword, unlike the other items, has not been affected by the damp of the tomb and is not rusted in the least. It is longer than a longsword, and its handle suggests it is a claymore. The general consensus is that they have found the object of their quest, the sword Shandar called Dragonfang Foe Render.
Unfortunately, to get to the sword will require disturbing the body of the dead knight, a task which makes Selina feel extremely uneasy.
"You already disarmed the trap." Routnuious offered.
"I disarmed the trap that I found." Selina countered.
"Anyone want to place bets that if you touch that sword the skeleton will come to life?" Stago asked.
"If you touch that sword, you'll be the one who's dead, remember the curse that Shandar told us about?" Selina asked.
"Oh. Right. The curse. Well, I still think that moving the sword will animate the corpse."
"It would make sense. If you want to guard something that will kill you if you touch it, the best guardian would be something that is already dead." Routunious said.
"And you don't have to worry about provisions or even payment. Undead creatures make excellent guards. I'm even more certain that if you touch the sword, the skeleton will attack us." Stago said.
"Well, we didn't come all this way to leave it here. We're supposed to bring it back." Elessaria interrupted.
"Of course...." Stago said, and they all stared at the sword under the body for several long minutes.
"Do you really think the skeleton is going to come alive?" asked Selina.
"It's a skeleton, of course it is going to come alive." Stago returned.
"Well...then we could minimize the damage it will do when it does." Selina said, and then before anyone could react, she began to tie the feet of the skeletal knight together. Seeing what she is doing, and without touching the sword, Routunious lays his hands on the chest of the skeleton to keep it from rising.
Selina is able to tie up the feet without incident and after putting on her gloves, she slowly reaches behind the body to grab at the sword and scabbard.
No one is surprised when the moment the sword is touched by the thief, the skeleton animates and rises in the sarcophagus, preparing to take a swing at Tick-a-Tick with its mace. As it stands it breaks the bonds Selina had placed around its feet as though they were string instead of heavy rope. It strikes and though it does damage to the automaton, the mace crumbles upon the impact. Selina loses her grip on the sword during the skeleton's attack. Elessaria counter attacks but misses.
Routunious casts control undead, but to no effect. Tick-a-Tick hits the skeleton w/fist. Selina makes another attempt to grab the sword, but fails. The skeleton stands and stabs at Tick-a-Tick with its javelin, which also crumbles to bits of rusted metal upon impact. Elessaria misses again. Stago fires a bullet from his sling and manages to hit the wall rather than the skeletal guardian.
With its mace and javelin destroyed, the skeleton pulls the sword from its scabbard and began striking at the party with its cursed blade. It swings again at Tick-a-Tick, perhaps sensing that it is the greatest threat.
Selina throws her lasso at the sword, hoping to pull it from the skeleton's grasp but instead manages to ensnare its arm. Elessaria hits the skeleton's back. Routunious attacks the creature with his knife-staff, and hits it on the face. Stago hits the wall with another bullet from his sling while Selina struggles to maintain her grip on the rope.
The battle rages on until Tick-a-Tick lands a mighty blow that causes the skeleton to crumble into dust and bone fragments. Stago hurries forward with the lead box in order to gingerly place the cursed sword inside with his now gloved hands. Everyone misses. While he does so, Selina checks the inside of the sarcophagus for any remaining treasure.
7:44 am Stago secures the lid to the box, with the claymore inside. He is startled by a gasp from Selina behind him. Turning he sees a radiant glow emanating from the sarcophagus. "That's not a good sign." He mutters.
Before their horrified eyes, the skeleton's body is reforming from the dust and bone fragments they had reduced it to only moments before.
Routunious shouts, "That isn't' an ordinary skeleton!"
"Run away!" Stago shouted back, and did exactly that, lead box under his arm. The Skeletal Champion, for such a creature it was, reached out its claws to scratch at Tick-a-Tick and leaving deep gouges in his iron body.
Selina joins Stago in his escape down the hall, followed by her cats, at a dead run. Elessaria strikes at the skeletal champion and lands a blow. Tick-a-Tick, too, hits the dead warrior. Even Routunious manages a hit, but is clawed in return for his efforts leaving his robe torn and his shoulder bleeding. His automated body guard hits the skeleton with tremendous force, pulverizing it again.
"Ruuuunnnn!" Routnuious shouts, and all run to the room with the shaft, rope, drain. Stago stands steady now in the corridor as they race past him, and he holds a scroll in his hands. As anticipated, down the hall and through the door can be seen the eerie radiance of the crackling crypt-fire which precedes the skeletal champion reforming once again. It is only moments after the flickering light dissipates that the undead thing emerges from the door and begins walking down the corridor toward the gnome.
"Well, so much for it being bound to the death chamber." He mutters to himself and readies to cast the spell from the scroll. The enchanted parchment upon which it was written evaporates as a huge gout of magical webbing appears in the corridor and catches the skeletal champion, holding it fast.
Not waiting to see how long it will hold the creature, the entire party flees the tomb with the sword as quickly as they can. After a day and a half of travel, they arrive at Shandar's tower.
"Excellent work, my friends, and in a very short period of time! I see my trust in you was not misplaced after all." The old wizard said as he examined the sword in its lead container.
"We're elated at your thanks, sir, but perhaps the jingle of gold coins will remind us of those kind words long after the moment has passed." The gnome said through a very wide grin.
"Of course, your reward is well earned." Shandar said, and counted out 100 gold pieces for each member of the party, including Hitomi but excluding the cats and Tick-a-Tick.
After dispensing with the money, Shandar examined and identified the other treasures the company returned with from the tomb.
Translator’s Brooch: This jeweled pin grants the wearer the ability to understand Thorass, Bugbear and Orc in addition to those already known. If the character wearing the brooch is literate, they also gain literacy in the new languages as long as they wear the item. Faint divination; Price: 400 gp.
Headband of the Stout Heart: This simple leather headband is studded with small iron rivets. It grants its wearer a +1 resistance bonus on all Will saves. Faint abjuration; Price: 350 gp.
Lifting Belt: This heavy leather kidney belt features brass studs and large buckles on both sides and a large ornamental brass buckle on the front embossed with the image of a human male lifting a gate. Anyone wearing it gains a +1 enhancement bonus to Strength for the purpose of determining his carrying capacity or a lift gates check. The belt does not alter the wearer’s actual Strength score, nor does it change his Str modifier. This effect does not stack with that provided by any other bonus to Strength. Faint conjuration; Price: 500 gp.
Ring of spell storing: This ring allows the magic using owner to cast any spell into the ring, and store it there to be cast later upon command. The ring will store up to 4 spells per level, with a spell level limit of 4th. Moderate conjuration; Price: 1500gp.
There is a long and stubborn argument as to how the treasure will be divided, as none of it is going to be sold to Shandar. Most of the bickering is between Routunious and Selina, each of whom want to own the jeweled dagger. Elessaria points out to the priest that people of good alignments can't use the dagger, which makes Routunious uncomfortable, but he presses on with his claim. "I collect daggers, and I simply must have it for my collection!" He argued, not particularly effectively.
"I think we need to consider what will do the party the most good, not what will please an individual collector." Selina argued, "I can use the dagger, it suits my profession, and for someone as vulnerable to attack and so often in need of healing, a weapon like this is of particular benefit!"
"Yeah, you're always complaining about having to heal people, why wouldn't you be glad to have the dagger do some of the work for you?" Stago asked.
"It's just that...in addition to wanting it for my collection of daggers...maybe I feel that the evil nature of the item means that it would be better kept under the watchful care of a priest. That makes sense, doesn't it?" Routunious asked with a hopeful uptone in his voice.
"Not really. That sounds like hording and wasting, which is itself an evil act. It would make more sense to sell it to the wizard and divide the money equally." Stago returned.
"NO!!!" Selina and Routunious shouted in unison.
Stago said, "Well, I was the one who grabbed it in the first place, if it has to go to someone, then it might as well go to me."
Elessaria interjects, "You are not getting the dagger. I'm the leader, by unanimous consent, and by that authority I say the dagger goes to the thief. The benefit Selina will gain from it will best benefit the entire company."
"Very well," Routunious grumbled, still eyeing the dagger covetously, "but I want some consideration next time there is treasure to divide."
"I'll certainly remember that you bowed to my authority and should an item come into our possession which, in a similar manner, the entire party will benefit from giving it to you, I won't hesitate to ensure that you have it." The elf said stonily.
"Fine." Muttered the priest, "What about the rest of this junk?"
"As the only one in the party who can make use of a bow and arrow, especially those of elven make, I will take Heartseeker and the magic quiver."
"Say, I just have a thought." Stago interrupted, "If that thing magically fills with whatever type of arrow is put into it....What if we paid to have a solid gold arrow made?"
"I am certain that the elves who crafted this item did so in order to facilitate battle and not greed." Elessaria replied.
"What is the purpose of battle if not to facilitate greed?" Stago argued.
"The answer is no."
"That doesn't really work as an answer to the question I actually posed."
"The answer is still no."
"Fine. Who, do you suppose, should get the ring of spell storing?"
Stago happily accepts the ring from Elessaria and drops the issue of mass producing golden arrows. She also gives the gnome the lifting belt and Headband of the Stout Heart.
After the long argument, everyone settles in for a well deserved rest. Tomorrow will bring a huge breakfast and the start of training for those who are ready to gain a level.
Experience points awarded: 318 each, plus any applicable bonuses.
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