Chapter 5 Recap #
- Olivier, being heralded as the winner of the tournament is whisked away to meet with Bumblelore and participate in some meetings and PR for the camp.
- After breakfast, Royal Studies, and Physical Training, you attend Undead Studies taught by Delia TuneForge.
- In Undead Studies class Delia TuneForge hands out fortune cookies with little rhymes to learn about undead creatures. Also staff roll out cages with actual undead creatures inside that she has campers read aloud during class. There is a Ghost, a Ghast, a Mummy, and a Skeleton.
- During the lesson the Ghost casts Horrifying Visage on the campers.. Many are fine, but Salmon and Mic Dagger take the brunt of the attack.
- Salmon is aged 20 years, and Mic is aged 40 years!
- Mic has creaky joints and can’t hear much of the rest of the lesson being that he is now a crotchety old man.
- The Mummy also casts Dreadful Glare on Mic (I think) but he resists the spell!
- Emmit’s crush, Evilyn is frightened by the ordeal, but is captivated and charmed by Emmit’s presentation regarding Ghouls and Ghasts, largely due to him effectively using his Charisma boosting cloak! She regards him with a few extra glances during class, thinking twice about her feelings. (which I forgot to mention in game)
- After class healers cast Greater Restoration on Mic and Salmon bringing them back to their youthful age.
- At lunch, Professor Romeo (aka Chromeo the rainbow dragon) hands the Echoes a map, a note, and a bag of mushrooms. He has arranged for them to “forage for mushrooms” for the remainder of the day so that they are free to embark on a secret mission to retrieve a “key” called “Chia Suspendio” that Bozterasu (the evil sea monster) will need to complete his nefarious plan to flood the lands. But the Echoes need to be back in their tent by sunset.
- Not much is known about the “Chia Suspendio” other than it is unusual and metallic, about the size of a grapefruit, has magnetic properties. The last person to own it was Count Ludebrass Devonshire who was buried in a tomb with his family tens of thousands of years ago.
- The location of the entrance to the tomb is purportedly near Ballyhoo Ridge based on this ancient text.
- “And in his quest to find the Tomb of Devonshire, Mandelbrot the Sorcerer from Greyhawk allowed purifying waters to rain upon his head at Ballyhoo Ridge which gave him the clarity to spot the tomb’s entrance.”
- En route the kids may see three giant spiders that are carefully spinning web into a large length of rope about as thick as a tug of war rope.
- Following the map the campers find what equates to essentially a hot-tub in the side of a low cliff face. A wooden hatch is positioned above the hot tub, which is dripping water.
- The Echoes remove their gear and get in the warm hot tub. Finding a lever, which appears to be the release for the shower hatch above, they pull it..
- And FALLLLL! Down a water slide, which spins around, this way and that.Tossing the kids around in an exhilarating and echoey rush.
- They fall about 20 feet into about 12 feet of water which fills a large, dark, rectangular ancient stone room.
- They are attacked by an ugly Sea Hag and her 3 Moss Hand Minions.
- It’s a bit of a scramble since, they only barely managed to snag their gear before falling down the slide and have to arm themselves underwater. Most are able to arm themselves, except for Salmon.
- The battle is rough, everyone doing their part to hack at the enemies despite the disadvantage imposed by attacking while swimming. Stray slams a Moss Hand Minion against the wall and it explodes. Emmit slashes both swords at the hag and minions, Mic Dagger uses his nimble abilities to gain solid footing on the stairs to negate the disadvantage of swimming, Spearbreaker deals the death blow which explodes the Sea Hag in a dramatic fashion! And Salmon strategically positioned her gear beneath the delicate feet of a Moss Hand Minion. Ouch!
- Finally after defeating all enemies in the water, a treasure chest is looted, (Stray has the group loot) and they figure out that the key to exit the room is within the exploded Sea Hag’s remains.
- The next room is another smaller ancient stone room, with a door with a large brass knocker, the skeleton of a dead adventurer, a lantern with a glowing crystal inside and an empty steel mug.
- Seems safe enough so the adventurers decide to take a short rest here and heal up while looking around. Not much is found in this room, even after a few searches are made.
- The room beyond the door is a long hallway with a pit full of deadly green acid, and no easy way to cross.
- After some clever discussion about using Salmon’s magic rope and Stray’s Immovable Rod, to traverse the acid, a breakthrough is made when Emmit takes a moment to cast speak with animals to chat with a rat named Roderick in the corner of the room.
- Roderick the rat (and his roommate Bob the rat) show the dumb humans the obvious secret door. Alas, the door is sealed shut with Lime or Calcium or some similar white hard substance.
- Stray and Salmon, knowledgable of this white material, know that the easiest way to dissolve it is by using acid, so Spearbreaker bravely leans over the acid pit and scoops some into the steel cup found in the room and pours it on the substance which dissolves it.
- The secret door is opened, and the room beyond is FULL OF UNDEAD!
- To be continued…
