On dusk, the party spotted a swarm of flying creatures coming from the garden.
They headed there to try and spot what they were, but the only place that could have supported a swarm was the well. They investigated it and found is smelled strongly of animal poo, acidic and choking.
Grim (?) was sent to get the horses and retainers from where they had stayed earlier in the day, maybe half an hour from the library.
Meanwhile, Zaiden explored the well. He was lowered on a rope (which was good, because the rungs were weak). About 30 feet down the well, a passage opened out. Along the passage, lots of animal shit, and a stronger and stronger smell. After a distance, there was another ladder down and the sound of rustling. Zaiden threw down a light, which caused the rustling to increase, but nothing moved into view. After a little while, he went back up.
About this time, the horses and retainers were back. Unfortunately, so was the swarm of flying things. It swooped over the unprotected horses and retainers. It was a race! Could the horses get to the safety of the building before the stirges attacked or would the party lose another animal to the bloodsuckers? With the help of some fire and smoke, the party scared off the swarm long enough to get into safety.
Cheated of its prey, the swarm flew down into the well and out of sight.
After calming frightened horses, the party clambered down the well after the beasts.
At the bottm of the ladder was a short tunnel leading to a half-open concealed door. Beyond that, stirges. Lots and lots of stirges. And stirge shit. The fumes were choking.
A casting of spirit guardians nicely took care of the beasts.
The room was of fitted stone. There were niches carved in the walls and woodern lecterns and display stands. All empty. The characters did find a scroll case buried in guano. Maybe it had been forgotten when the vault was cleared?
The next room was a large reading room. Desks, chairs, benches, braziers. The ceiling was blackened with smoke. There were five exits, all with closed doors.
Through door number one, a short passage leading to a room with a desk and a wall filled with small cubbyholes. In the holes, the yellow, mushy, mouldy remnants of parchment. Two doors.
The first door they tried led to another corridor going straight as far as their light shined. They didn’t explore this, but closed the door and focused on the other one.
Behind that door, a small room with chairs, tables and a couple of cots. And shadows. Lots of animated shadows, which moved to attack!
Some of the shadows moved straight through the wall and moved to attack the back members of the party, some just charged the front members. Diero took the brunt of the damage, having almost half his strength drained. Other party members had their life drained. However, after a tense battle, the undead were vanquished.
After the battle, the party ignored the unexplored passage and went back to the reading room.
Greeting them in that room were two shadowy figures with tattered wings and smoke for feet. These figures didn't talk, just attacked. It turned out that these creatures could also pass through walls, as well as fly. They were also smart enough to move out of sight of the archers and spellcasters.
The party killed one and forced the second to flee.
The party headed into the door the shadow creatures had come from. They found a room identical to the stirge room. Perhaps it also had a concealed door? It did. Beyond that was a short passage and a ladder leading up, the same as the other room. The party headed onwards and upwards, with Zaiden in front (as the lightest, he went up the rusted lader first).
Unfortunately…
Ten feet up, the runs of the ladder started to get really sticky, and the walls started closing in. The top of the shaft was actually a mimic, and it had Zaiden!
While the party struggled to attack the mimic, 10 feet up a narrow shaft, the base of the ladder turned out to be a second mimic, which attacked the rest of the party.
A very tense battle ensued, with limited lines of sight and limited movement. Grim cast a dust devil, which turned out to hurt party members more than the mimics.
GM's note: This fight went down to the last second possible. Zaiden was down with two failed death saves (from the dust devil!) and had one roll to live or die. It was….. a 20! Zaiden recovered on 1 HP. He tried to escape the grapple, at disadvantage. It was…. A 20! He escaped! But then took damage from the dust devil and went unconscious again. Another death save… It was… a 20! WOOT! Usually Jesse's dice hate him but tonight, they were on fire.
Zaiden crawled out of the mess of dead mimic, away from the nasty dust devil on 1 HP, ripped and chewed and covered in mimic slobber.
GM's note: I am very pleased to be able to showcase a classic D&D monster.
We ended the session with the players batterd and bruised and drained.
GM's note: I pushed the pace heavily this evening. 3 combats in 3 hours, plus some exploration. I think it was worth it - 1060 XP per character is far more than any other session. If you want to reach level 6, then 7, then 8, and so on, then we need to complete more than one encounter per session.
Level 6 next week?