Session 7: The Last Serpent of Zareth-Ka

24th day of Sowing, 519 AE. (23-May-2026)

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In the days after the companions returned from Deadfall a number of rumours trickled into Thorneford about continued raiding and incursions by the Bloodmaw Horde orcs. During this time the Gilded Banner returned from their expedition westwards, their mounts and pack animals laden with coin. It also emerged that Justicar Velric of Thalar had convinced Lighbringer Blackthorn that the will of Thalar was that pagan temples and pagan worship should not be tolerated in towns led by Thalar's light.

But as the weather shifted from cold and snowy to warm and dry the greater concern around town was the fungus goblins. Their presence near town had noticeably increased in numbers, visibility and activity. Small objects had increasingly gone missing and the creatures seemed to be watching over all approaches to town. Ritualised activity centred on the hillock they had previously shown Lyra had become pronounced and the objects they placed there were now clearly placed in organised, geometric patterns. The fungus goblins' attachment to Lyra seemed to have intensified to the point of group separation anxiety whenever she left them, with some of the creatures holding her feet and begging "stay" while most openly wept at her departure. By the morning of Sowing 24th the creatures were subtly blocking her departure, but still allowing her to leave.

At this stage Lyra asked Altherion whether she should be concerned about the fungus goblins' behaviour.

"I would be concerned," came the retired wizard's reply.

Later that morning Alira, Dorcus, Jewel, Kratos and Lyra set out to complete their exploration of the Zareth-Ka tombs, taking with them the wagon, four soldiers and an ever-growing retinue of fungus goblins. Reaching the entrance around midday, the companions secured their gear and left the soldiers to set camp while they entered the tombs.

Following their hand-drawn map to the "throne room" of the fungus goblins, the adventurers encountered many of the small goblinoids who were ecstatic that their queen had returned to their domain. Making their way past the prostrate and gift-bearing creatures, the company pressed forward. Beyond the throne room our heroes discovered what seemed to be a storage area for the fungus goblins, followed by a low, narrow crawl-way leading into a dark space. Jewel navigated the crawl-way easily, finding herself in a space where fungi, rotting animal carcasses and strange, opaque sacks of fluid grew tangled with the walls and low ceiling. Cutting one open, Jewel narrowly avoided being drenched by the liquid spilling out. The only things within the sack's remains were a couple of small objects that seemed to be made of flesh.

Moving onwards the group passed through a rotating, cylindrical door trapped with a spear that struck if the cylinder was rotated the wrong way. Avoiding this they were able to collect two small golden bowls and move onwards.

Following this the companions found themselves in a short passage west of the great stone hall, where they fought the basilisk. Before them stood two doors—one a latticework of criss-crossing stone snakes, the other a sturdy but plain stone door. Examining the "snake door" they noticed that a single snake was missing and were unable to open the door. Trying the plain door, they found it open. Passing through that portal they entered a finely carved stone hall, lit by purple light and carved to represent a creature's gullet. Welcoming them was a dried husk of a creature—apparently the desiccated remains of one of the snake-folk. Yet the thing spoke! Greeting them with a simple "Hello, bipeds." After a brief discussion with the creature the companions left, rather than invoke its ire.

Navigating the many "statues" in the great stone hall, our heroes exited the eastern end of that space. Finding themselves in a cluster of intersecting chambers, the company searched what appeared to have been a small resting place for priests, along with what seemed to be an ancient antechamber to the great hall. This left them with a choice—eastwards through a foreboding passage, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a snake's throat, or southwards down a sloping stone passageway. After some discussion the company chose the southern passage.

At the end of the sloping passage the hallway opened into a room covered with five foot square tiles, where the tiles at the edge of the room were only one foot wide and a door occupied the opposite wall. A single floor tile was missing, showing only darkness beneath. Dorcus immediately stepped into the room, only to fall straight through the floor and narrowly miss the spikes below. After she recovered a couple of coins from an old human skeleton, her companions hauled her out using a rope. Finding that the tiles at the edge of the room were sturdy, the adventurers then worked their way around to open the door.

Through this door was another chamber, with only a one foot ledge around its perimeter and a smooth stone surface sloping down into a large flame whose source was unknown. A door centred in the southern wall appeared in good order and did not seem to have a lock. Making their way around this ledge too, our heroes discovered that the southern door did indeed open freely, leading into yet another room.

This square room had a door in the centre of each wall, a domed roof and the southern door featured a large steel lock. The companions immediately recognised this as the hallway outside the treasure room they had recently emptied. Thus they opted to open the eastern door, which they had not yet tried.

That door also opened smoothly, revealing a short passage ending in yet another door. This subsequent door opened to a rectangular room that was empty, other than a couple of sets of ancient manacles chained to the walls. Several of the group decided to search the room, with Kratos straying too close to one of the manacles. The ankle irons leapt from their place and snapped shut around his ankles! After some wrestling the group was able to force the metal restraints open, freeing Kratos. Finding nothing else of note in the room, the companions exited via its northern door.

This led them to the stem of a T intersection, with the eastern arm apparently leading to the ledge around the huge underground crevasse they had previously discovered. The team decided to head west and, after a short distance, the corridor opened into a square room. Another room with five foot floor tiles and an edging of tiles one foot wide. Suspicious of the room's resemblance to the previous room with a tiled floor, the companions took a moment to examine the floor. Spying a missing tile with darkness below, Jewel employed a pole to press floor tiles. The smaller tiles around the edge proved solid, however the five foot square tile nearest the door immediately collapsed when pressure was put upon it, revealing darkness and the gleam of iron spikes below. Carefully making their way around the perimeter of the chamber, the companions reached its only exit—an archway in the north wall.

Part way down the passageway beyond, the companions almost ran into a strange creature—a skeleton completely enveloped in some kind of acidic jelly. The thing struck Dorcus, its touch causing a painful burn on the half-orc's arm. As our heroes rushed to defend against the creature, they quickly realised that none of their attacks seemed to inflict any discernible damage to the thing. In a moment of inspiration they decided to lure the thing back to the room with the loose tile floors, hoping to trap it within the pit beneath that space. For once their tactics unfolded as planned and the thing found itself trapped below the room's floor.

Pressing onwards, the team approached yet another T intersection. Exploring to the east, they found what appeared to be the remnants of some kind of ceremonial room containing stone benches and a fountain that had long been dry. This chamber had a single stone door on its eastern wall, however this seemed to be firmly barred from the outside. Thus they pushed westwards.

After marching up a sloping flight of stone steps, the passageway opened into a square room with three exits, an archway to the north, a passage to the west and a stone door to the south. The southern door was flanked by two petrified Zareth-Ka warriors in positions of guard. The northern arch led into a shrine containing a cobra-headed idol and the western passageway appeared to be the opposite end of the corridor resembling a snake's throat they had previously avoided. Investigating the idol, Kratos realised that the ancient stone statue was atop some kind of pivot and could rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. Rotating it clockwise caused hundreds of the golden Zareth-Ka coins to spill out of two holes beneath the idol, several of the coins rolled into the western passage—resulting in the zing of blades from along the length of that walkway! After collecting the coins, Kratos then attempted to rotate the statue the opposite direction—releasing a noxious poison gas which the companions barely managed to avoid inhaling.

Next, turning their attention to the southern door, the companions found it unlocked and it swung open easily. Beyond lay a tangled wall of broken shields, branches and other junk. After taking some time to clear the mess away, the companions discovered that the chamber beyond was in fact a long U-shaped space. Spreading out to explore, Lyra and Kratos found an altar upon which stood two golden bowls, a wavy stone snake and a glittering snake-themed dagger, similar to the mace and sword the team had previously discovered. Meanwhile at the opposite end of the chamber, Dorcus happened upon a handsome young male half-orc who was apparently manacled to the wall. Hailing the barbarian with clear relief, the young man begged her to free him. Dorcus stepped forward and as she did so the leg iron upon the man's ankle popped open and fell to the floor. Expressing his gratitude, the young male told Dorcus how beautiful she was. At this the barbarian moved in to kiss him. After a short embrace Dorcus dropped to the floor, weakened almost to the point of death. Springing bat-like wings from his shoulders and small horns upon his head, the young male took his leave, apologising profusely. "You really are so very pretty, my love. But I have urgent matters requiring my attention."

After Dorcus had swallowed down a healing potion and received ministrations by Alira, the company pressed on. Believing the stone snake they had found might fit the door they had found earlier, the group took a roundabout route back to that place. And surely enough, the grey stone snake fit in place. With a gentle push, the stone serpents wriggled away into the doorframe, leaving the entrance clear. Beyond, the companions discovered a room of red and gold stone, occupied by mirrors and a great raised throne. Kratos determined to sit upon the throne, experiencing lofty visions of conquest and lordship. His reverie was interrupted by Jewel's discovery of a passage in the northern wall concealed by a rotting wall hanging.

This hidden ingress led them into what was apparently a storage area filled with boxes, crates and barrels, along with six bronze lids atop pits in the floor. Within these pits were huddled a dozen fungus goblins, which Lyra and several others released. As they were freeing the miserable goblinoids, Jewel and Kratos searched the place for valuables, with Jewel finding a small glass vial holding three ancient-looking seeds. Learning that the exit passage led to the place they had interacted with the desiccated Zareth-Ka wizard, the companions chose instead to open the door in that space's eastern wall. Beyond that portal they encountered the same ancient Snake-man, who seemed quite annoyed at the disruption. After some brief negotiation, the serpent-man demanded that the group leave his chambers. Dorcus moved to attack, however the desiccated thing snapped its fingers and she froze, unable to move. As the others made moves towards violence, the creature cast a spell that caused everyone except Jewel to fall asleep. The thing then instructed Jewel to remove her companions from his abode. Obeying the creature, but leaving Kratos until last, the cunning halfling quickly pulled the basilisk head from Kratos' pack and held it up to the ancient monstrosity. The creature simply observed that the basilisk had been dead a rather long time. Its eyes had clouded over and no longer possessed the power to petrify.

Deciding they had pushed their luck far enough, the adventurers withdrew, regrouped and moved back to the eastward-most part of the subterranean passages. Linking up the last of the corridors, the companions realised their maps were now complete.

Returning to their wagon and guards, they found all well and, after an uneventful night, returned to Thorneford.

Summary

Since Last Session

• Rumours spread of renewed Bloodmaw Horde raids and incursions.
• The Gilded Banner returned from the west laden with treasure.
• Justicar Velric convinced Lighbringer Blackthorn to suppress pagan worship in Thorneford.
• Fungus goblin activity around town increased dramatically: thefts, surveillance, ritual activity and growing devotion to Lyra.
• Fungus goblins became increasingly distressed whenever Lyra left them.
• Altherion advised Lyra that their behaviour was cause for concern.

During Play

• The party returned to the Zareth-Ka tombs with soldiers, wagon and a growing fungus goblin entourage.
• Explored previously unmapped sections of the tombs and discovered fungus goblin breeding/storage chambers.
• Met an ancient desiccated snake-man wizard who greeted them with "Hello, bipeds."
• Navigated multiple traps, including collapsing floors, a fire pit, animated manacles and a trapped idol.
• Trapped an apparently indestructible jelly-covered skeleton in a spike pit.
• Looted Zareth-Ka treasure, including golden bowls, a stone snake key and a snake-themed dagger.
• Dorcus was nearly drained to death by a disguised fiend posing as a captive half-orc.
• Opened the snake door and discovered a throne chamber with hidden passages.
• Freed a dozen imprisoned fungus goblins and recovered three ancient seeds.
• Confronted the snake-man again and were effortlessly subdued by his magic.
• Completed exploration and mapping of the Zareth-Ka tombs.
• Returned safely to Thorneford.