The Cradle of Unlife

Last week my players continued through the Red Mausoleum. This is an adventure I adapted from Advanced Adventures Module #2 by James C. Boney published by Expeditious Retreat Press. The Cradle of Unlife in question is a portal to the negative material plane that is being used to create an army of the undead by a Lich.

I left the Cradle chamber more or less the same as written in the original Osric rules adventure and for once I think I managed to convey the magnitude of the chamber to my players. They seemed suitably impressed with the danger.

This chamber is one of the reasons I decided to run this adventure so it was gratifying that it had the impact I had envisioned. There is nothing worse than an anticipated encounter going flat.

Session 126: The Cradle of Unlife

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Thistle Walker (human ranger), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC), Ian of Darkhollow (human cavalier NPC).

The Company of Adventurers are somewhere deep in the earth searching through the Red Mausoleum for the source of the undead hordes attacking Edgerton. With the portal back to the dungeon they entered from closed the group has been searching for a way forward or a way back.

The dungeon level is a confusing maze but Thistle Walker remembers which directions they have gone before so he and Lakima confer. As they talk the other adventurers hear moaning and the sound of many shuffling feet coming from a nearby hallway.

“Light!” Lakima shouts and casts light into the dark hallway.

Four shambling zombies can be seen moving toward the adventurers. Eathwund followed by Aldus moves to the front and blocks the zombies from entering the chamber. They make short work of the four undead.

Thistle Walker leads the group down one of two hallways leading from the room that they have not explored. But the hallway circles back and returns to the chamber. Lakima then points south. Walker tells him that the chamber barred by a portcullis is in that direction. They decide to head that way and Aldus with help from Eathwund manages to lift the portcullis. The chamber has a large iron grate set on the floor in an iron frame. Peering through the grate, Fenris announces that he can see a metal ladder headed down into another chamber below. The iron grate is hinged to be lifted open but Fenris says it must be incredibly heavy.

Still enchanted with Lakima’s Strength spell, Aldus grasps the edge of the grate and manages to swing it up and open. Ian helps to steady it open while Fenris descends. He goes down a short way so he can get a clear look and then cries out in surprise and rushes back up.

“There are two mummies down there!”

Lakima tries to get a view below to see the mummies but he is unable. He casts a fireball spell and tosses it down into the chamber below. The fireball explodes and smoke pours out of the chamber. Fenris goes down a short way again and announces that the mummies are burnt badly but still moving. Alrix finishes off the mummies with a few well-placed arrows shot from his longbow.

The entire group descends the ladder to the next level. Other than the burnt corpses of the mummies the chamber below is empty. A hallway leads off into the darkness. They notice that the strange vines and flowers do not cover the walls on this level. Also, the walls are not pockmarked with ossuaries for the dead.

Fenris leads the group to a locked door. The lock is complex and he is unable to open it. So, they continue on to the next door they find at the end of a hallway. Fenris takes the lead down hallways until he finds another door. This door has a small circle of glowing runes on the front of the door. Fenris says that it is locked but he is more concerned about the runes. Lakima casts dispel magic and the runes vanish. Fenris tries the lock and finds that it is fake. In fact, he realizes the door is unlocked but the lock and hinges are fake, the door swings on hidden hinges on its opposite side. He swings the door inward and looks into a strange chamber.

The walls, ceiling, and floor are made of the same red stone that they have found throughout this dungeon – but all of the stones are covered in painted eyes that seem to stare directly at them. On the far side of the room rests a stone coffin with a padlocked lid. Fenris moves forward cautiously to the stone coffin.

As Fenris traverses the chamber the eyes appear to follow his movements. Eathwund and Aldus move up to the edge of the doorway to cover him with Thistle Walker a short distance behind them.

Fenris unlocks the stone coffin and the lid flies off hitting the far wall. A brilliant white light shoots out of the coffin and before anyone can react – three enormous, scaly, demons climb out of the coffin. Fenris staggers backward toward a corner of the room. The three demons immediately attack Aldus and Eathwund with their enormous, clawed hands. Three more demons emerge from the coffin.

“Are there any more coming out?” Lakima shouts to Fenris.

Fenris does not answer as he is too busy trying to make himself hard to see in a corner of the brightly lit chamber. One of the demons easily spots the cowering thief and steps toward him clawing into his flesh. Aldus and Eathwund continue to hold off the remaining demons but things are getting desperate. Alrix fires a few arrows at the demons and Thistle Walker hurls bullets from his sling.

Lakima cast conjure elemental and an enormous air elemental appears and swiftly enters the fray blowing past Eathwund and Aldus it pulls three demons off of them and smashes one with a strike. Three of the demons turn to fight the air elemental. Fenris manages to use his longsword to slash at the demon attacking him. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and 3 berserkers appear behind the demons in the chamber. Two of them immediately launch themselves on the demons and the third slides the stone lid of the coffin over the opening.

Fenris is soon clawed apart and he falls to the floor. The demon attacking him turns its attention to the berserkers and soon dispatches them as well. The air elemental keeps three demons busy but is mauled by the attacks of the demons. Eathwund takes a bad slash on his arm opening a large wound. Domago casts a healing spell on Eathwund. One of the demons falls to the air elemental. With the space created, Eathwund and Aldus push forward and Alrix is able to get his dancing sword into the fight. With all of the adventurers concentrating their attacks on one demon they are able to finally kill it.

There are still four demons fighting but the elemental kills two of them. Now with the space opening up, Thistle Walker is able to get into the action using his battleaxe. One of the two remaining demons opens a gate to the abyss and retreats. The last demon is killed and Alrix fires an arrow into the back of the demon stepping through the abyssal gate.

As the fight ends, Lakima sends the air elemental through the closing gate to the abyss.

The fight over, five dead demons cover the floor of the chamber. Domago makes his way to Fenris and finds he still has a pulse. He casts healing magic on Fenris until the thief is ready to get up again. Fenris thanks Domago and looks at the healing staff in wonder.

Lakima and Fenris walk over to the stone coffin. Aldus comes over and Lakima asks him to open it. The stone lid is pushed back again. Looking in they see a stone chamber 8 feet square. The walls and floor of the chamber glow with a bright white light like a powerful continual light spell. Only a few silver coins lying on the floor. They decide to close the stone lid again.

The group sets out again. Fenris finds another locked door and opens it. Inside they see a single, human, male prisoner chained to the wall. The prisoner looks emaciated and wears only a loin cloth. His head droops forward and he is actually suspended in the air by the chains on his wrists.

“Hello! Who are you?” Lakima shouts.

The man slowly raises his head and sees them. He cries out for help and tells them his sad tale. He is Talien, an adventurer who was in company with Kenrae the Black (a teacher missing from the Academy of Magic. Lakima questions Talien with suspicion but eventually tells Fenris to get the man down from the wall. Once freed Talien asks if they know the way out. When he learns they do not he asks to join them and asks for a weapon. Lakima hands him one of his magical daggers.

“I’ll just stay near the back and out of trouble until we find a way out,” Talien says.

Their number increased to nine, and the adventurers head onward. Their sense of smell is soon assaulted with a rotting smell. Rounding a corner in the hallway they come across a chamber full of dirt and debris. Dozens of capped mushrooms over a foot tall grow up out of the debris.

“Stay back!” Lakima yells expecting that the mushrooms are shriekers.

However, the light from Domago’s continual light spell illuminates the mushrooms and no noise is made. Not wanting to take risks, Lakima casts a fireball into the chamber, and the mushrooms and burnable debris all burst into flames. Soon all that remains is ash and dirt. Fenris carefully darts through the chamber followed by the less careful Domago and Aldus. Nothing happens so everyone follows. They follow a long hallway that ends in a stuck door. Fenris tells everyone that it is not trapped or locked but it is firmly stuck in its frame. Both Aldus and Eathwund find they cannot push it open.

“I’ll try,” Talien says and the thin man moves up and manages to shove the door open. He looks back at the group and shrugs apologetically.

The door has opened into a hallway perpendicular to the hall they came from. To the left, the hallway descends and is flooded with dirty green water. To the right, the hallway goes a short distance before entering a chamber. From the right, the entire group can hear a cacophony of voices shouting. They cannot make out the words or individual voices.

The large chamber is empty with two large iron doors at the far end. The noise of voices gets louder as they approach the doors. Fenris nervously moves up to the doors. He has to shout to make himself heard.

“The doors are unlocked. They are well-oiled and have been open recently. I don’t like this!”

Lakima yells for Fenris to move to the back of the group and asks for the fighters to move to the front. Talien and Ian move to stand near Lakima. Aldus, Eathwund, Domago, and Thistle Walker move up to the doors.

“Ready?” Aldus asks Eathwund. Eathwund nods.

The two fighters swing open the doors and both are hit with a wave of noise. Hundreds of voices calling out, screaming, and babbling. They cannot make any sense of it. Domago shines the continual light spell into the chamber beyond.

They see a huge chamber at least 100 feet across. The ceiling is 70 feet above and the floor drops away after a ledge deep into the darkness. A 10-foot-wide ledge circles the chamber. In the center, they see a square pillar 20 feet wide. On top of the square is a painted mandala from which a black vapor pours out. Above it hangs a hemispherical iron cap the same diameter as the mandala. The iron cap is suspended from a thick iron chain.

The incredible noise of voices comes from the pit. Fenris walks to the edge of the ledge and looks down. He staggers back in horror. Below are a thousand corpses. As the black vapor pours down into the pit the corpses stir and stand. Hundreds and corpses and skeletons are climbing up the walls of the pit.

“Can you understand them?” Lakima shouts at Fenris.

The thief, his face pale and drawn, shakes his head numbly.

Alrix follows the chain holding the cap upward with his eyes. He sees it go up into darkness passing through a pulley on the ceiling and then coming down where it meets a winch 100 feet away located on the wall perpendicular to the doors.

“Look! We have to get over there and lower the plug!” Alrix shouts. He points across the chamber.

The adventurers look at the path along the ledge and realize that some of the undead will soon climb up to the ledge and flood over them.

“We have to clear the path” Lakima shouts looking at Alrix.

Alrix casts an enormous fireball spell, detonating it over the pit. Dozens of skeletons and corpses are consumed in the blast and tumble back down into the pit. Lakima casts a wall of iron anchoring it on either end of the ledge in an attempt to block more undead from climbing upward. Quickly, Fenris leads Aldus, Eathwund, Domago, and Alrix along the wide ledge. They arrive at the winch.

“What would happen to that wall should you die?” Talien asks Lakima. Ian looks about at the man in surprise. Seemingly, unfazed Lakima answers.

“The wall would vanish. What a strange question.”

Talien then transforms into his true appearance. That of a cambion devil.

“Then die!” he says and he swings a clawed hand at Lakima cutting open his shoulder. 

Ian leaps at the devil swinging his long sword and stabbing the black-skinned creature in the stomach. The devil swears in anger its red eyes flashing. It turns to attack Ian.

Meanwhile, Fenris examines the winch and declares it safe. Looking over the chain he tells Aldus to turn it to the left. Aldus grunts and with his magic-infused strength he slowly turns the winch as instructed. Eathwund watches as the metal dome begins to close over the inscribed mandala.

Alrix looks back toward Lakima and Ian and sees the devil attacking them. He yells a warning at Eathwund and turns and fires two arrows. Both strike the surprised devil in the chest. Lakima casts a summoning spell and two wild-eyed harpies appear. He directs them to attack the devil. The talons of the harpies dig into the black flesh of the devil.

The devil staggers backward and put his arms up in surrender.

“Okay, let's talk, I have important secrets to share!”

Lakima waves the harpies back and dismissively tells the devil that he has little time. The devil refuses to give its name but it does tell Lakima that the architect of this mausoleum is a lich called Gaheris. Gaheris is one of the legendary demonologists of Mor. He built this mausoleum 1,500 years in the past. On further questioning the devil tells Lakima that Gaheris is in a chamber just past where Aldus stands by the winch. He asks if he is now free to go, but Lakima gestures to the harpies to finish him off. The devil is killed and the harpies soon vanish.

Lakima and Ian join the rest of the company. Domago comes over to heal Ian.

“That was bravely done,” Domago tells Ian.

Eathwund points to a nearby door in the wall. Fenris goes over and checks and then opens it. As soon as everyone has passed into the hallway Thistle Walker pulls the door shut. The noise of the screaming and babbling undead thankfully subsides to a lower level and the adventurers find they can speak without shouting and be heard.

Ahead Fenris spots a large iron door blocking the corridor. The adventurers know that likely the Lich Garheris waits for them beyond the door.