The Rusty Battle Axe: Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 42 Notes

Douglas Cole (Gaming Ballistic) has a detailed post on Montporte Session 42.

The Cast of Characters
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Breena Honey-Badger Warrick (Gnome, Barbarian): Joshua (Tales of the Rambling Bumblers)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Nosphryc Azurecoat (Human, Fighter): Douglas (Gaming Ballistic)
8 Rescued Gnomes (Abel; Dilrod; Dwemmon; Ernst; Gemflower; Happenstance; Rosepetal; Zelma Lynn)

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Session
The brave adventurers continued where they left off in Session 41. They are seeking to return 8 rescued gnomes to their home deep below ground. This has led to the party trying to find a way down the Montporte dungeon proper. They are currently exploring a small level at the end of a staircase that has descended 21 miles.

The party started off this session in Room 1 (Map A above) and explored Rooms 2-4, which turned out to be dwarven dining and kitchen facilities. They knew that they needed to continue heading west, which they did. This led to the discovery of a set of stairs heading down (Area 5 on Map A).

The party walked down the steps, descending 5 vertical miles, when they came upon a freshly killed half elf. He had left a trail of blood behind him, heading down the steps. He had been mauled and eviscerated, which made his ascent up the steps nothing short of a miracle. He also had the signature bite mark of a vampire on his neck, and he also at the insignia of the Hunters of Adzeer on his tunic. The party searched his body and found a letter, among other things.

The letter, from a certain Brother Kepler, spoke of a mysterious "SBF," who had a lair underground near the town of Montporte. The letter hinted at SBF being a vampire, who was powerful enough to have a lich doing his bidding. The letter gave further information as to SBF's background and what might be done to kill him. SBF had, according to the letter, created and hidden multiple crypts for himself. SBF couldn't be destroyed until each of these crypts was destroyed.

There was a fair amount of debate among party members about descending further and running into a vampire and a lich, but, in the end, the party continued down the steps.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

The party descended vertically another 2 miles and arrived in Room 6 (Map B above). There was a lot of blood on the floor. There was also the body of a wight, with charred wound on its chest, likely from electrical damage. There were also two dead zombies in the room. The trail of blood led to the southwest corner of the room, where the party found a secret door (but did not open it).

There was also a small plaque on the south wall, written in goblin, which said: Arlonian Syndicate Waystation 452. The group was able to figure out that this had something to do with groups of goblins have exclusive trading rights to certain areas.

The did a quick check of Area 7 (Map B above), just to make sure they knew the area. They then decided to take a long rest in Room 6. They did hear some faint scratchy and shuffling from the secret door in the southeast corner of the room, but it was an otherwise uneventful resting period.

After the rest, the party entered the secret door and followed the narrow corridor. They did not enter Room 8, choosing to, instead, set themselves up in the 10' wide corridor. Facing them was a wight and about a half dozen zombies. After about 3 rounds of combat, the party had almost eliminated the undead threat. Just then, they heard a female voice from beyond their range of sight shouting, "Get them and kill them!"

Another wight and more zombies appeared, plus a female who looked suspiciously like a vampire. A well-placed fireball managed to catch most of the undead. Most were left standing, but were quite damaged. Using spells and arms, the party made surprisingly quick work of the remaining undead, killing the suspected vampire as she attempted to flee through a secret door to the south.

The party discovered that the female was a vampire spawn, not a true vampire. They also discovered a dead human in armor against one wall. He had a wooden stake shoved through his visor. He also had short note in a scroll case.

This note was also from Brother Kepler. It spoke of SBF and the location of several of SBF's crypts. According to the note, these locations are:

A crypt is located 7 miles below a dwarven mining site, hidden near an abandoned trader way station.
A crypt is located just below groundin a giant ant colony.
A crypt is located in the ruins of a dwarven city.
A crypt is located far underground with the Bloody Spear orc tribe.
A crypt is located far below ground, in a foul cave, and is protected by a powerful demon.

This is where the session ended for the night.

The Dungeon So Far