Session 68: Here Come the Mummies

 Session 68: Here Come the Mummies

4/21/24-4/27/24, rest 4/28, active 4/29

PC: Valda, Zektel, Brumdor, Cracaryn

Hench: Arif, Zero, Taco

#ACKS

Team B made it back to Northbridge through Abstract Wilderness travel since the session last week ran late. Bigtoe’s representative who rescued them with the flat-bed truck failed to succumb to Brumdor’s negotiation and stuck firm at a 50/50 split of goods. She left with the items headed back to the Friendship Hills and the party stayed on to continue pursuing treasure maps.

Their travel to the first map location was annoyingly profitable, having great luck finding buried treasure and ore deposits and such. They even found and stole a fairy conclave’s mushroom ring that could double for iron rations.

Eventually they arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a small family cemetery with a mausoleum at one end. The cast-iron fence and gate was in surprisingly good condition but the rest of the place was pretty weathered.

Taco the thief was able to decipher some of the old script, dating the graves to 500-600 years ago. He also was concerned about mummies being nearby, so the group systematically desecrated the dozen or so graves in the yard, digging them up, stabbing the long-dead inhabitants, and then burning the remains in the holes. This took them like a day and a half but no random encounters interfered. They learned many of the bodies were buried alive by the claw marks along the inside of the coffin lids.

The heavy stone door of the mausoleum pushed in to reveal a small interior with eight slots for bodies. These were occupied by slightly better condition but still poorly mummified corpses that the party again desecrated immediately. No respect for the dead, I tell ya.

A massive tome bound in stone tablets and latched closed sat on a lectern at the far side of the mausoleum. Brumdor believed it to be mechanically trapped or something, so they devised a plan using rope, a horse, and Cracaryn to grab the book and get pulled away. Unfortunately, his neck didn’t break and they acquired the super heavy tome, stowing it on one of their pack horses. The lectern itself rose and slid to the side, revealing a crypt space beneath past a narrow cast-iron spiral stair.

Descending into the crypt below, the group found sarcophagi standing against each wall and double doors with a rising/setting sun motif decorating it. Painstakingly detailed precautions were taken to wrap each coffin in rope before opening them one by one. This revealed better preserved bodies with some grave goods inside. The only complication during this process was that some of the bodies were infested with murder maggots that sprung out at Valda and Cracaryn as they opened the lids. Good saves and a quick response from Zektel of Doctors without Orders rendered the potentially deadly situation trivial.

Through the double doors they found very finely crafted sarcophagi lining each wall of the next chamber, with a raised dais covered in treasure at the far end. Again they prepared to tackle the situation as methodically and safely as possible. They buffed up with magic and laid out a plan, then entered to execute it. Unfortunately, they tripped the trigger to awaken the inhabitants before they could apply any of their mummy-dampening measures.

Eight of the linen-wrapped undead sprang from the coffins and the fight was on. They’ve got a nasty fear effect on first contact but only one PC failed their save, so the group was able to bottle up at the entrance and slug it out. It took a long time, but Brumdor’s big AC kept those with spears able to attack safely from the second rank. Eventually the party destroyed all the creatures and looted the place, but the session was an hour over so it’ll be another Abstracted run to a town.

Musings:

I find lairs easier to improvise during session. I can envision them in their total theme easier than I can a dungeon, particularly one that’s being generated live. Makes sense since it’s a smaller situation.

I did better with the random encounters during travel. Updated my cheat sheet and practice practice practice.

A PC focused on Healing is a literal lifesaver. Doctors without Orders coming in clutch again vs. Mummy Rot.

I wonder what’s in the book?