Chapter 6: Into That Darkness (by Post Festum)

With their new compatriots, Knute and Eenar, Aengus, Aarkuhn and Kildyn explored the neglected "Hall of Betrayers" -- the vas Roman tomb dedicated to the family's villains, miscreants, and traitors.

Facing pit traps, water traps, and the dangerous Caraytid Columns placed as guardians by the old generations of vas Romans, the daring party managed to explore much of this neglected tomb, and secure for themselves a fair amount of treasure. Our already deft and powerful party gained even more experience as they also waded through a plethora of ghoul and ghast -- each of which seem to rise from the family plot that formerly served as their place of rest. These ghouls and ghasts, of little danger to a party as strong as ours when approached individually, managed to tear the life from the poor shepherd boy turned foot solider, Knute.

Before completing their total exploration of the Hall of Betrayers, however, our Outlanders found themselves face-to-face once again with the evil bard that the Lady referred to as the Puppetman (or Mordent) during their very first adventure. Being led by the Puppetman into a confrontation with the evil demon Solamith, our brave PCs destroyed both the Puppetman and the demon in dramatic battle in which one final well-placed strike from Aengus' divine weapon made all the difference. Had the demon survived for only one more round it was likely that each of our party members would have met their end deep under the ground, in the darkest corners of the enormous burial complex of the family vas Roman. And although poor Eenar met a cruel end under the fatted foot of the obese Solamith, the three surviving party members soon discovered the existence of a now-shrinking Great Cyst, a sign of some great evil that either has or soon will have taken place in this location.

Luther Heggs, looking as if he had recently engaged in a similar battle to death, appeared alone in response to the call by Eenar, and appears to be greatly relived that the Outlanders had dispatched the stench-producing Solamith. He also notes to the PCs that the pile of bones they claimed to have been the Puppetman was no more than an undead construct -- most likely a Bonesinger -- that some unknown party had summoned in order to play the part of a now-returned Mordent. Who would concoct such an evil plan? Who would benefit from sending the soldiers of the newly reformed 15 into the dark depths of the vast vas Roman family grave complex? And, now that the demon has been dispatched, is this the end of the recent spate of nightmares experienced by the star-crossed brother and sister vas Roman? Perhaps some answers await our party of adventurers once they make the long journey back to surface.