Simply Kraken, Old Sport

Siathamh 27 - Seachdamh, 6639; next holiday is Brightest Night, 6/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster

Having found the lair of the Draugr, the party swooped in to clear out the last of the baddies. After killing and/or turning a group of haugbui, the group went further in. Craydos illuminated the way, as Sorvald found and disarmed traps. After quite a bit of searching, they uncovered a strange map, and finally the way in to the draugr's lair. As they found later, the entrance to the lair was through solid stone - the draugr could cast passwall, and thus move a section of solid earth. Through a murder pit under a fake coffin, they discovered a secret entrance; following it, they finally found the undead creature's tomb. The turned haugbui were destroyed, Gróin walled the entrance off, and Laurita began casting Dispel Evil. A few minutes in, and the draugr's mist-form rose from the coffin and fled towards the door; finding it closed, he attempted to cast a spell, but was frozen by the light. Finally breaking free, the draugr managed to cast Passwall again, and fled into the passage; Gróin dispelled the passwall, but too late. Craydos dispelled Gróin's wall, and the group moved into the hall! Sorvald, thinking quickly, grabbed a bag off of Gróin and tried to catch the gaseous form as it slipped by, to no avail. Craydos, however, pulled one of his jars for monster parts out, heaved it over the cloud, and snapped the lid shut, trapping it!

Returning to the tomb, they waited until Laurita was nearly finished casting, then opened the container... and the spell failed. Luckily, the gas couldn't escape; the draugr was out of passwall spells. The second casting was enough, and the creature was instantly turned to ash. After collecting the ash, the party dumped it into the stream near the troll's camp, and the draugr was finally defeated.

The hex cleared, the group travelled back to Caranthir's land, for the midsummer feast. The golden dragons were invited; when the topic of the undead kraken came up, the male volunteered his services. When the festival was finished, the party set off to find the northern paladin and finish off the undead kraken once and for all.

Before that happened, however, Gróin needed to check his henchmen's loyalty... and the sapper decided not to stay with him. Luckily, he did choose to hang out with the Ectomancer, so he's still with the party.

The paladin was overjoyed to see them, and introduced his companions: Ham, a hide-clad barbarian with a saber-tooth tiger for a mount; Twych, the cleric; and Toxwell Dishthunder Galazooks, aka The Great Galazooks, Gnomish Wizard. They set off, with Galazooks accidentally teleporting himself there, Twych and the Paladin flying with the party, and Ham riding the saber-toothed tiger, who appeared to be wearing boots of speed. Or something.

Along the way, they ran into another draugr - not as high level as the previous - and watched with great interest when the barbarian killed it in a single round, hardly slowing down at all. Galazooks was waiting for them, having somehow managed to find sand to make a small beach with. Craydos summoned a 10-headed sea hydra, which dove towards the water... and was absolutely shredded before it ever touched the surface. Mor Gibs, laughing, summoned his battle kraken, dropping it towards the lake... and it managed to survive a round before being destroyed. Mor Gibs stopped laughing.

The two dragons dove for the lake, blasting it with frost and fire; Mor Gibs launched lightning bolts at the water, as Galazooks shot a cone of frost and Gróin blasted it with boulders. The cleric cast something on the barbarian and paladin, and the barbarian stepped forward, yelling a challenge to the undead monster. It accepted, slamming its great tentacles down... and sliding off, reflected by the cleric's Protection from Evil spell. Grinning, the barbarian slammed his mighty hammer into the creature, flattening a tentacle. The paladin rushed in, slicing at the beast - and destroying it! He continued forward, dumping a handful of holy water into its decaying beak, and the creature melted into a black ooze.

The cleric sat at the shore and began casting a ritual spell he had prepared, to cleanse the lake...

As a note: I assume most of what was taken from the first draugr was left in Gróin's stronghold. The draugr's lair contained two potions and a strange map, as well as a Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Draconic): Magic Mouth (1st lvl), Light* (1st lvl), 2 Scrolls of Ward against Elementals, a Scroll of Ward against Magic, a Sword +1, light 30' radius, and a Spear +1. Finally, Gróin's birthday was the 3rd.

• Experience from Encounters
  • 5 haugbui (325)
  • 1 draugr (9HD, 3100)
  • 1 cloud giant (peaceful)
  • 1 draugr (7HD, 1840)
  • 1 undead kraken (24100)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 1000 Electrum
  • 1000 Gold
  • 6 crates of armor and weapons (1350)
  • 2 crates of glassware (400)
  • 5 jars of spices (4000)
  • 3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (3600)
  • 7 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux (5600)
  • 15 pieces of ivory (1500)
  • 26 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (5200)
  • 400 monster feathers (400 - these were kept by Craydos for making magical stuff, and taken out of his share of the treasure)
  • 1 alexandrite (500)
  • 1 Bone jewelry (28)
  • 1 pearl jewelry (2000)
• XP sans Kraken-hunt: 4925, plus 24,178 once sold
• Kraken-hunt XP: 25,940
• XP for Caranthir, Craydos, Mor Gibs, Gróin, and Sorvald: 4253
• XP for Rhea, Luce, Gimli: 274
• XP for Elenora, Pentzkin, Herman, Laurita, and Baelnar: 2127