The creatures moved immediately to attack, dealing necrotic and psychic damage in their wake. The monsters were faced by Mara, Melisana and Pretis who struck back as well as they could. The party was somewhat tired from their long day of adventuring and Demin remained in the hallway firing his crossbow.
Lythandar summoned his stormstone fury and had it attack one of the creatures. Melisana and Alhellara found that the area gave them bonuses to attacks but also vulnerability to all damage. Never the less Alhellara let loose with Turn Undead, immobilizing two of the Callers, while Melisana used written in fire to further damage the monsters.
The callers turned out to be insubstantial, but immediately Melisana used her armor to steal the ability, which the Caller could never recover. The Callers kept up the attack with Spirit Bites and Steal Essence and when bloodied the party found that the Callers also inflicted more psychic and necrotic damage. At one point Pretis started to fall to the floor but using her ring kept herself standing.
Soon the Callers started falling and the party triumphed even though several members were taking ongoing damage. After a short rest the party searched the area for magic, treasure and hidden/concealed passageways. Finding nothing of interest the group decided that they needed an extended rest. As they awakened refreshed they gathered at the narrow passage leading east. Gofin moved through the small archway easily finding a hallway leading east and then south down a set of steep stairs. Pretis and Mara moved down the stairs where the hall lead west to a door.
Demin reminded Mara to take care and look for pits as the party had fell into several traps recently. Mara moved forward confidently to the door. Finding no traps or locks, shed opened the door revealing a 10' wide, 10' deep pit followed by hall and another door. The pit had no spikes and Gofin clambered down to search for hidden doors. Finding none she climbed out of the pit on the far side followed by Mara, Pretis and Gofin. Mara opened the next door, which revealed the same setup, pit, hall, door. Following the same procedure the party opened the third door. Beyond was again a pit, and hallway leading west. In the bottom of this pit was a opening with a passage leading south. Pretis moved forward in the west hall peering around a corner where the hall turned to the north. The passage disappeared in darkness to the north.
The party decided to follow the southern passage from the pit. After about 20' they found steep stairs again leading down. At the bottom Mara found the passage led to the west, where there was another set of steep stairs. About 30' west of the stairs was a door on the south. From behind Alhellara mentioned that there was a secret doorway in the middle of the south heading stairway. The party concluded that secret was more interesting than a regular door so they opened the door and headed east and then south. Again they came upon a door.
Demin moved forward found no traps nor locks and opened the door. The party felt a wrenching sensation more in the soul than in the body, and the world around them changed. The tunnel they were in had been carved from natural rock now consisted of stone bricks, and a hideous black sludge seeped through the cracked mortar. They felt as if a great weight had settled on them. Colors, and the very light were muted.
The chamber looked like a cross between a crypt and a laboratory. Several stone sarcophagi stood throughout it, and a single round worktable occupied the chamber's center. A desiccated corpse, partially wrapped in linens, lay slumped on the floor beside a sarcophagus. Mara commented that the room was eerily reminiscent of the chambers they had been in with the stone vats. She then moved in to examine the table, along with Melisana. Demin moved into the chamber to the far west and noticed a door in the southwest corner. Pretis and Gofin also entered to the east.
On the table Mara found parchments, various decanters and beakers, bowls of herbal powders and strips of linen. Lythandar determined that these items were required for proper mummification of a body. Melisana said that she felt they were standing in the Shadowfell due to the oppressive sensation that had overcome them. She also noted that the process of mummification on the slumped corpse was left partially complete, which was an act of heretical disrespect. As Mara was rummaging through the items on the table she came upon a small piece of metal that seemed to be a trinket but as she examined it looked more like a key. It had a number of notches and teeth along its length, and the head had been forged in the shape of a sword hilt.
As Mara grabbed the key the corpse stood up.
Scorecard: The party earned 2057 XP for exterminating the Callers and now have 72471 XP needing 10529 more to reach 17th level.
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