THE CRYPT OF KROVIS

January 22, 1999 GM: Kenneth Newquist

During his time in Greyhawk, the priest of Trithereon, Kalib Ironfist, had communed with his god. He had asked his lord the location of the hero-god Krovis, the Sleeper who was prophesized to awaken whenever evil threatened to overwhelm the Pomarj.

Trithereon responded by sending his loyal follower a vision of the sleeping god’s crypt -- and a warning that it was protected by a powerful guardian.

Horrified by the state of Obsidian Bay, the Blackrazors stocked up on supplies and headed into the Drachensgrabs in search of the Crypt.

The Blackrazor’s guildmaster, the elven ranger/mage, Tanevir Calywyn
The party’s human thief, Gaiseric, aka Scrappy.
The human cavalier Demetry Hawkins.
The dwarven axe-slinger, Luc.
The human terramancer Sven Kildare.
The human loyal billet of St. Cuthbert, Calvin Cloudmore.
The human gladiator Giaus
The human cleric of Pelor, Karaan.
The elf/aquatic-elf hybrid -- and mage/thief -- Malaclypse.
The human mage Aesop.

They were all loyal members of the Blackrazors, but none except Demetry worshiped Kalib’s vengeful lord. Would that hamper their quest? Kalib thought not -- they were on a mission of vengeance, a mission that would ultimately free Obsidian Bay from its unlawful invaders and drive the humanoids from the Pomarj.

Or so he hoped.

The mist of the vale drifted slowly in the early morning light. Kalib looked up at the feeble sun which was just rising over the Drachensgrab Mountains around them. He knew at a glance that it would never burn this mist off. There was only one thing left to do -- enter the Vale.

The Veil of Misdirection

The Blackrazors pierced the mists and found confusion on the other side. Kalib, Tanevir, Karaan and Aesop walked through the mist and arrived in a clearing bounded on every side by mist. The mist wall behind them was only a few feet away -- the mist wall in front of them looked to be at least five miles distant. But as the Blackrazors assessed the situation they discovered that some of their friends hadn’t made it through the door.

Scrappy, Demetry, Luc, Sven and Cal went into the mist, but immediately became confused and walked out of it. Kalib and the others left the misty veil to catch up with their friends. They found Demetry preparing to lead their friends back out into the Drachensgrabs.

"Where do you think you are going," Kalib asked the cavalier.

"You are deluded," Demetry said. "I have been given a true vision by Trithereon and I know the real location of the Sleeper’s crypt." Those around him nodded their head in agreement.

I don’t need this, I really don’t, Kalib thought. His sword -- and former mentor -- Justiceseeker offered no advice.

"You -- you know the location of the true location? You’re not even a priest of Trithereon!" Kalib said.

"You’re just jealous because Trithereon favors me," Demetry said, arrogance peppering his voice.

"Jealous? Jealous!" Kalib said.

Aesop, sensing an imminent conflict, moved to intervene by tricking the cavalier into entering the wall of mist. "Want to make a bet?" Aesop said. "I bet you can’t enter the Veil over there."

"No, I don’t gamble," Demetry said.

"Care to make a wager then?" Aesop said innocently.

The Blackrazors rolled their eyes.

"Look," Kalib said, "can we at least stop for our mid-day meal?"

"Yes. We can stop for lunch. I’ll give that much," Demetry said. Clearly Kalib had been driven mad by the mists -- humoring him with a break might help convince him of his folly.

* * *

They spent the rest of the day following Demetry on his mad quest into the hills. Kalib tried to remove the curse affecting the cavalier, but his efforts failed. "We could have Giaus try throwing everyone through the mist," Malacypse suggested with a smile.

"No, that won’t help us," Kalib responded.

Hours later, they rested via a nap spell cast by Calvin. With his spells re-memorized, Kalib was able to remove the mental trap that had ensnared the party. With the day ending, the Blackrazors decided to spend the night in this new valley before returning to the Veil.

"It’s alright," Kalib said, addressing his friends as they set up camp, "we just got a little mixed up. We’ll try it again in the morning.

On Wealsun 20th, the Blackrazors approached the Veil for a second time. This time around Kalib cast a series of magical protection spells, and all but Cal made it through. The Blackrazors quickly grabbed him and Kalib was able to clear his mind with a remove curse spell.

The Veil of Confusion

The second Veil was a shimmering mist of blue and white. The two colors swirled maddeningly before them, diving and rising as the Blackrazors watched. Kalib and the others paused for a moment, and then plunged in.

As Giaus entered the veil, he felt something tweaking at his mind. Suddenly that thing grabbed hold of his brain and sent it whirling. An insane rage suddenly overwhelmed him and he struck out at his closest target -- Aesop.

The mage staggered out of the mist, and the gladiator followed. Clypse tried to take Giaus down with a spell, but it failed. Karaan’s magic, a hold spell, did work and the gladiator was frozen in place.

Meanwhile Gaiseric was overcome by a similar madness, but before he could attack anyone, Demetry tackled him, driving the thief to the ground.

With in minutes both of them were bound by ropes and the Blackrazors were safely on the other side of the second wall of mist. They friends waited for an hour, hoping that the effects on the Blackrazors would wear off. It didn’t, and they were forced to use more of Kalib’s remove curse spells to free the two men’s minds. Then, with everyone in their right minds, or at least as much as ever, they set out for the next Veil.

The Veil of Sleep

Two hours later, the next Veil rose before them. An inky blackness broken by occasionally bursts of gray, marked the boundary of the obstacle.

"Hmm," Aesop said as he looked at the Veil. "Maybe we could burn it off."

The others ignored him. It was obvious to everyone that in a former life the mage had been a pyromancer.

After several minutes of debate, the Blackraozrs decided to enter the fog, only this time they would tie themselves together with rope. That way when they became separated -- or when someone went insane -- the others could easily pull him through to the other side.

It was a good plan, and it actually worked.

Although most of the Blackrazors collapsed the moment they entered the mist, Kalib, Tanevir, Demetry and 'Clips -- the party’s most chaotic members -- were unaffected. They quickly dragged the others back to the other side of the veil and then examined their friends. They were all comatose.

"We could shave off Luc’s beard," Tanevir joked, looking at his slumbering dwarven friend.

"I think that would be a spectacularly bad idea," Kalib said, laughing at the idea. Kalib grin was immediately replaced by a stern frown as 'Clips pulled out a pair of shears.

'Clips sighed and put away the scissors. "He is such a goody-goody," 'Clips complained to himself.  "Someday I'll fix his little red wagon."

They waited for a good nine hours and then tried the Veil again. This time, augmented by Kalib’s spells, they were able to make it through.

What they found on the other side was a darkened valley nearly five miles long and a mile across. At its center was a large mound, around which lightning bounced and thunder roared.

"Is everyone ready?" Kalib said, eager to attack the mound. There was no verbal response, but Kalib knew their answer. They hurried on.

The Trial of Summoning

Hours later they stood before the mound. The lightning slammed into the ground around them as they looked for some entrance into the subterranean crypt. Suddenly, from behind the mound, two gigantic figures burst into view. As most of the Blacrazors backed off, somewhat intimidated, Kalib called out "Are you servants of Trithereon or Krovis?"

"We are the protectors. Prepare for the Trial of Summoning," one of the giants said.

Giaus knew that more words would be wasted, but saw no need to wait. He hit the giant with a series of mighty blows -- the towering humanoid responded by unleashing a blast of lightning from the sky. The Trial of Summoning had begun.

The battle which ensured was brutal. The giants lashed out at the Blackrazors with a series of resounding lightning strikes, but the Blackrazors were able to defeat them with well placed attacks by Tanevir, Luc and Giaus.

When the giants fell, their bodies dissolved into mist. Suddenly the lead giant's image reappeared with a large smile on his face.

"Hail and well met seekers. You have passed through the Three Veils and survived the Trial of Summoning. You may now enter the Crypt of the Sleeper. Be warned though – Trithereon has summoned a powerful guardian for this place. This guardian is bound to the Crypt and you must defeat it. Once you have, smear the blood of the creature’s heart on the door to Krovis’ inner sanctum to gain access to the sleeper. May Trithereon smile upon your quest, as I do."

And with that, he dissolved into the mist.

Beyond lie the Crypt

With the last of the external barriers defeated, the Blackrazors were able to approach the entrance to the crypt unmolested.

They found a double door made of bronze, standing 15 feet high and 10 feet wide. Engraved on the door was the outline of a man holding a bastard sword; behind him was Trithereon’s symbol: the rune of pursuit. The floor before the door was covered with light-blue tiles and the entire area radiated a powerful feeling of good.

Kalib approached the door, looked it over and then cast a knock spell from his gloves of spell snaring.

The door didn’t open.

"Let me try it," Demetry said. "I command you, in the name of Trithereon, ‘open.’"

Nothing happened.

"Scrappy!" Kalib shouted. The thief advanced. "See what you can do."

Gaiseric obliged.

He tried to open the door, but triggered an electrical trap that shocked him. He then tried to remove the trap, but the magic was too strong -- a golden snake leapt from the lock and hit him, instantly covering him in a thick golden skin. Fortunately, Tanevir was able to dispel the magic, but only after several tries.

The door remained.

"We could smash the lock." Karaan says.

"Yes," Malaclypse snorted. "When you go into a tomb, to wake a sleeping god, it’s always good to vandalize it, because you can blame it on someone else."

Luc agreed. He heaved his axe and hit the door. He dented it -- but refused to open.

Tanevir cast dispel magic at the door, but the spell failed

Frustrated, Demetry and Karaan set off around the mound looking for another entrance.

They failed.

Finally, out of frusteration, Kalib cast a prayer spell.

The conjuration spell opened the door.

The Trial of Flames

The door opened to reveal a short corridor. At the far end, two bronze braziers stood on short granite columns outside of a set of gold-plated doors. Engraved in the gold was the scene of an epic battle between two armies – one humanoid, another human and demi-human. Dwarves, halflings, gnomes and elves fought along side humans in the scene and on the distant horizon, riding a heavy war horse, was a solitary warrior.

Scrappy was volunteered to enter first.

"I love my job", Scrappy complained, as he carefully moved down the corridor. Reaching the doors, he grabbed some flint and steel from his pocket and lit the incense that he had found in the braziers. As the flames leapt to life, the door fell shut behind him, cutting him off from the rest of the 'Razors. Noxious green gas immediately began billowing from the brazier, easily catching the fleering rouge. "Damn ..." was all Scrappy had time to think as he sucummed to the poison, his soul starting to slip free of its mortal shell.

The Blackrazors outside quickly re-opened the door.  The doors had barely parted when a tiny streak of fire shot between them, exploding far down the corridor.   Everyone dove for cover as the backlash roared towards them, and looked back at Aesop. 

"No more poison", Aesop said matter-of-factly.

"No more Scrappy either!" Kalib shouted at the insane pyromancer wanna-be.

Aesop just shrugged.

Kalib raised Gaiseric using a magical scroll found during his second expedition to the Pinnacle of Stars. With the thief back in the land of the living, the Blackrazors tried the brazier again, this time igniting them using a magical flame. This unlocked the doors.

The Trial of Illusion

The Blackrazors entered a 30x30 room lit by two flickering torches. Shadows crowded the room in spite of their continual light torches and there were solid-looking bronze doors on the north and south walls.

Beyond the northern door they could hear the sounds of footsteps. From the southern one, they could hear running water. They entered the room cautiously, expecting another trap. Luc pulled out his gem of true seeing, examined the room and suddenly realized it wasn’t what it appeared to be. The doors on the north and south walls were gone. The shadows were gone. All that remained was a single door on the western wall.

Scrappy quickly examined the door, found it to be trap free, and opened it.

The Hall of Traps

The corridor beyond looked innocent enough, with doors to the north and south. Scrappy scouted out the corridor up to the two doors, but found nothing.

The other Blackrazors did. When Karaan, Kalib and the metal-armor wearing Blackrazors entered the corridor, a powerful arc of lightning struck out at them, leaping from one person to the next. They staggered back into other room, and plotted their next move.

They threw a sword onto the floor, but the trap wasn’t triggered. Kalib cautiously re-entered the room, but trap hadn’t re-set.

They moved to the northern door and -- after Scrappy again checked for traps -- they moved into the room beyond. They found a 30’x30’ room with the decaying remains of what appeared to be a mage on the north wall. Kalib moved over to the body and began poking through it. He found a rod sticking out from the corpse’s belt. "Hmmm.   Treasure!" Kalib thought. As he pulled it free he saw a small silver cord running through the corpse.

He noticed too late.

Pulling the cord triggered the collapse of the floor, sending Kalib plummeting toward the iron spikes nearly 30 feet below. Kalib grappled with the corpse, barely managing to hold on. He concentrated for a moment and then cast a levitation spell from his glove.

They scouted out the rest of the room, found nothing, and turned their attention to the far end of the corridor.

Scrappy, cautious from his encounter with the poison gas, declined the parties generous offer (read command) to scout the corridor. Kalib grumbled, then set off down the corridor.

"This ought to be good", Malaclypse snorted.

As the cleric moved into the final five feet of the corridor, the ceiling overhead suddenly disappeared and he was sucked into the air, plummeting upwards. He ‘fell’ for nearly 30 feet toward the ceiling, impaling himself on the foot long spikes that filled its ‘floor.’

Demetry shouted and started to run forward, but stumbled to a halt as a lithe green elven form quickly soared down the hallway.  "Always saving his backside.   And do I get any recognition?  No.  It's always, Malphas attacked us in Greyhawk. Malphas escaped to the Abyss.  Malphas is to sneaky, too smart..."   Malaclypse's private whining was cut short as the reverse gravity of the trap overpowered his fly spell and he found himself plummeting towards many nasty sharp spikes. The two adventurers struggled painfully to get off of the spikes but paused as a smelly liquid began to fall down onto them. The liquid -- clearly some sort of oil -- was nearly six inches deep before the Blackrazors tied a rope onto Karaan and belayed him into the trap. He was able to loop the rope around his two fallen friends just in time -- as the Blackrazors lifted the adventurers off the bottom of the pit four burning embers dropped down into the pool of oil, instantly igniting it.

Back in the corridor the Blackrazors retreated into the safe chamber where they had found -- and ignored -- the illusions. There Karaan healed the injured party members as Tanevir and Gaiseric examined the door to the south. Opening it revealed another 30x30 room, this one with a small bag of what were obviously platinum coins spilling from it.

"Oh, like that isn’t a trap," Gaiseric said and fell back with his friends.

They ignored the obvious trap and decided to focus their attention on finding hidden doors or passages that they might have missed. After searching most of the corridor, they decided to send a levitating party member over to the wall over the gravity-trap.

"Wonder who they're going to get to do that" Scrappy thought, then groaned as everyone turned to him.

Scrappy knocked nervously on the wall and soon found a secret door. He opened it, revealing a long room lined with statues. At the far end of it was a crystal door, through which alternating bursts of light and darkness fell.

One by one the Blackrazors leapt over the corridor trap and entered this new room. They examined the statues, half expecting them to come alive and attack. But they did not, and Scrappy and Malphas were able to continue down the room to the door on the opposite wall. The door looked as though it might have been made from some sort of magically enhanced quartz, but try as they might no one in the party was able to detect any traps on the door.

Cautiously, expecting the dungeon around him to crumble or drop away at any moment, Kalib opened the door.

The Light and the Dark

What he found on the other side was a hexagonal-shaped room made up of three descending tiers, with four staircases evenly spread about the room. At the center of the cavernous space -- it was easily 100 feet in diameter and at least 50 feet deep -- were four pillars which cast huge, ominous shadows across the room as some sort of a light source rotated between them.

A moment’s examination revealed the source of the light to be a two-sided sphere. One hemisphere emitted a brilliant light, while the other radiated darkness. The sphere rotated quickly, and the shadows it cast made a complete orbit of the room every 30 seconds.

The Blackrazors quickly debated whether this latest challenge was a trap, and eventually decided there was only one way to find out -- enter the room.

They reluctantly descended the staircases to the room’s center -- shocked and amazed that nothing blew up as they did so. They approached the rotating sphere and contemplated how to get through it. After detecting no traps, Tanevir decided to enter the sphere -- and was promptly knocked unconscious. After several more Blackrazors tried the same thing, with the same results, Karaan disgustedly moved to the sphere.   "Maybe it has to do with light."  Realizing the sphere was some sort of magical door way, presumably requiring a magical key, they cast a light spell at the white side of the sphere.

It turned gray.

They cast darkness at the black side of the sphere.

It too turned gray.

The gate was open.

Shadowdeath

The Blackrazors stepped through the unlocked portal and into a rough-hewn cave. Behind them, the portal began to glow white again, and slowly began to rotate, alternative between black and white as the one in the previous room had done.

They cautiously moved into the cave and found that it was actually part of a much larger cavern complex. Pairing off, the Blackrazors pushed deeper into the caverns.

And that’s when the attacks began.

Karaan sensed it first -- a feeling of intense evil combined with the unmistakable cold of the undead. He whirled around and saw the most powerful undead warrior he had ever seen. He muttered a prayer to Pelor, but his feeble attempt to turn the monstrosity failed. He staggered backward and prepared his mace.

The rest of the Blackrazors saw nothing. Seeing the familiar look of absolute terror on Karaan’s face, Kalib shouted out "It’s not real Karaan! Whatever it is, don’t believe it!"

But Karaan couldn’t do that. The thing before him was real and if the others around him couldn’t see it then he was the party’s only hope.

As Karaan ignored him, Kalib did the only thing he could do -- he knocked the cleric unconscious.

As the Blackrazors struggled to deal with Karaan, their unseen, undetected enemy struck again. This time it lashed out with a sickly-green beam that struck the gladiator Giaus, instantly reducing him to ash.

The adventurers turned to face their invisible foe -- which they guessed to be a mage. They realized their error when a dark cloud of vapor washed over them. Suddenly they felt weak and drained, as though half their life had been drawn from their bodies.

Shadowdeath had revealed himself.

The immense, ancient shadow dragon lashed out with tooth and claw, gleefully slicing through their feeble opposition. Tanevir tried to fend off the creature’s attacks, but it was too much -- he fell unconscious to the floor. The others quickly moved to fill his position.

Cal, with the aid of the now-revived Karaan, pulled Tanevir from the fight, healed him up, and sent him back in.

The battle continued to rage. Blackrazors succeeded in pushing the dragon back and the battle paused for a moment as Kalib tried to parlay with the beast. "Great wyrm -- please wait," he said, catching his breath.

Shadowdeath paused. Those who had challenged him in the past had also begged for their lives. Sometimes he’d even let them leave … if they gave him suitable compensation for his time.

"Yes?" the wyrm said, letting his words slip past his teeth like serpents.

"We are on a mission for Trithereon. We must awaken the Sleeper to fight a great evil."

"What do you propose to offer me?" Shadowdeath asked.

"How about, hmmm, we don’t kill you?" Malaclypse snarled.

The dragon’s neck snaked backwards as it hissed at the rude elf.

Kalib ssshed Malaclpyse and turned to placate the dragon. "You are obviously old beyond recokening of my kind. I would  be reluctant to destroy you -- or for you to slay us."

"Keep speaking wise one"

"We have some magical items…" Kalib said.

"I would be interested in the Cuthbertian's armor, the figurine of power, and the sword wielded by the elf -- I sense it’s name is Darkbane.  Oh, and that strange green elf.  His wit is amusing.  Killing him would be more amusing."

"We’ll give you the armor and figurine, I think that’s enough." Kalib said.  "We'll have to think about giving you Malaclypse"

The dragon considered this. "You are wrong."

He disappeared into the shadows before the Blackrazors could attack.

* * *

After taking a few moments to bind their wounds, the Blackrazors began hunting for the dragon. They didn’t have to look long.

Shadowdeath re-emerged from the darkness and let its life-draining breath wash over the Blackrazors again. The adventurers refused to be stopped and pressed their attack.One by one, Cal, then Karaan and finally Demetry fell before the creature.

"I think a withdrawal is in order," Tanevir shouted to Kalib.

The cleric of Trithereon agreed.

The 'Razors retreated pell-mell back to the entry chamber in a confused scramble, the rotating sphere of light and dark casting erie shadows of their figures on the cave walls.   "Cal, where's Cal, I need a healing spell", "Dimitri, form up to cover the retreat", "Where's that damn Pelorite, I can barely move my arm!"   One by one the Blackrazors fell silent as they realized that not everyone made it back to the portal chamber.

Luc wiped the blood out of his eyes and hefted his axes.  Looking at Tanevir gasping for breath beside him he grumbled,  "You know we've got to go get them."

Tanevir wearily picked up Darkbane and anxiously peered into the damp darkness beyond their chamber.  Almost immediately, a tremendous roar shook the cavern, punctuated by the sound of rending metal.  With a sick feeling, the adventurers said goodbye to their friends, hoping against hope that it was not a permanent goodbye.

Kalib's stern voice rang out. "We need to get out of these caves.  Follow me",  and dove through the slowly rotating sphere -- promptly falling unconscious. Tanevir looked on and shook his head in disbelief as he saw Kalib’s prone form. "You have to cast the damn light and darkness spells first," the elf hissed. "Damn."

The surviving Blackrazors assembled around their GuildMaster and planned their counterattack. It would come too late.

* * *

Shadowdeath cackled with delight as his opponents fled. So foolish, so easy to terrify, he thought. He stepped forward, took the Cuthbertian cleric in his claws and relished the feeling as he snapped the little human’s neck. He did the same with Demetry and Karaan.

He looked in the direction the Blackrazors had fled in. Foolish … but powerful, he thought. The ‘adventurers’ had landed several serious blows against him, especially that damn runt dwarf, penetrating even his thick hide. A temporary retreat was in order.

* * *

When Kalib came around, Tanevir briefed him on the situation. "We need to finish this," the cleric of Trithereon said. "We can’t retreat now, we don't have the right spells to get through the portal."  Tanevir looked at him as though to say "Duh!" then nodded his agreement.

After taking a few moments to heal themselves, as much as possible anyway, the Blackrazors returned to the caves. Five minutes later they were standing in a huge cavern. Against one wall was the face of a stone crypt -- the Crypt of Krovis.

Before they had a chance to admire it, Shadowdeath attacked again.

The Blackrazors put up an impressive fight. Tanevir summoned the mammoth inhabiting his figurine of wondrous power, and ordered it to attack. Meanwhile Sven summoned -- and lost control of -- an earth elemental. The dragon breathed a final time and managed to slay Tanevir and drop Gaiseric before Luc sent his axe flying into his heart.

The dragon fell dead to the ground. Its black bulk faded to nothing, leaving only its dark heart beating feebly on the floor.

The Blackrazors quickly assessed their situation. Of the ten adventurers who had entered the crypt, five were dead. Giaus was gone, reduced to ash by the dragon’s disintegration spell. Cal, Demetry and Karaan were dead, their necks broken by the dragon. Tanevir was dead by the creature's talons. Scrappy was alive, but unconscious. Sven, Luc, Malaclypse, Aesop and Kalib were badly hurt, but essentially whole.

But the dragon was gone.

Kalib reached forward, grabbed the heart and smeared the blood against the door of the Crypt.

It opened.

In a loud, steady voice he said "Krovis -- the Sleeper of the Pomarj -- in the name of Trithereon I summon you to aid our fight against the evil overwhelming our land."

Something in the crypt moved. As he watched a lone form walked toward him. It was a huge, solemn-looking man.

It was Krovis.

This page was last edited on 08/16/99 -- The Griffin's Crier