Keep on the Shadowfell: Part Seven

This is part seven of a continuing series documenting the deeds (sometimes heroic) of the adventurers (sometimes worthy) that I DM for once a fortnight. It's primarily here so I can remember what the hell was going on in the last session, and holy shit here I am writing it up less than 24 hours after the session, as opposed to 8 or 9 days! See all previous entries here.

Searos, Marroar, Scrindrel, Giovana and Malachi were deep inside the first level of Shadowfell Keep. When we last left them, they had defeated numerous zombies in some sort of Hall of Runes. They had a final room full of them to get through before they would be able to approach a mysterious hazy light in a passageway to the east. The zombies at first seemed troublesome, grabbing Marroar and immobilising him, but he quickly freed himself and with a thunderous magical wave the weaker zombies crumbled to dust. Malachi, the rogue locksmith, was able to deliver some sneaky backstabbing action, and the room was soon cleared.

Two racks of decrepit armour hung on the north and south walls, and when approached, a magical thundering voice boomed forth with a riddle, which cannot be repeated here due to copyright issues. The group's first answer to the riddle was incorrect, and the magical voice expressed its disappointment, again with a phrase owned by Wizards of the Coast. On their second attempt, the group guessed the correct word and were rewarded with magical iron scale armour and a mysterious black cube.

The cube (which I can tell you about, because it's an addition to this published adventure) had 4 red recessed tiles around its middle, and on the top on the bottom displayed the abyssal runes for Time and Death. Marroar depressed two of the sides, one after the other and found that around him, time had stopped! Sadly the sides remained in place; the object had a finite number of uses.

Searos donned his newly acquired magical armour, and handed down his chain-mail to Giovana. Bravely, our adventurers then entered the next chamber, a long crypt intersected with a wider chamber at the end, making the shape of a crucifix. Its walls were lined with upright sarcophagi. A shimmering light beckoned the party forwards but as they reached the centre of the room, skeletal warriors were dispensed from each sarcophagus. A fierce battle ensued (they usually do) before Scrindrel found two alters at the north and south end of the larger chamber, under a giant domed ceiling which bore the likeness of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon God. Scrindrel guessed correctly that a prayer must be offered to end the onslaught, but was unable to read the draconic inscription on the altars* and had to wait for Malachi to fight his way through the continually spawning skeletons before he could finally read the prayer aloud. Having done so, all of the skeletons returned to their tombs and a giant door to Sir Keegan's reseting place was unlocked.

Entering the small chamber where the knight's coffin lay, Searos attempted to disturb its lid, and it blew open, the terrifying remains of Sir Keegan himself leaping out and drawing his sword. He proceeded to question the adventurers as to their true intentions, as he suspected that they were here to profit from the evil of the rift. Finally they convinced him they were here to seal it once and for all, and he offered them his enchanted sword to help them achieve the great task.

Suddenly, their discussion was interrupted by the reappearance of Splug, the goblin who had double crossed them! Cliffhanger!

* DM Notes: In the published adventure, any sort of prayer or offering to Bahamut would have been enough to make the skeletons retire and end the encounter, but at the time this felt like it would have ended the combat too soon and not been enough of a challenge, so I decided that someone who spoke Draconic had to read out the inscription of the altar first. I quite like adapting the material to the players and their actions as I go, and improvising new stuff to help the story progress. While I'm on the subject, the cube is not in the original adventure either, but I'm conscious that Shadowfell can be a bit turn/combat heavy so I like to introduce more roleplaying elements here and there. I'm sure you guessed that Marvin Padraig was invented on the fly to move things in the right direction as well!