Session 33: Ecology of Ghouls

March 24, 118

I didn't take good notes of this session, so point form mode activate:

• After defeating the bugbears, the party need to rest, so they hide the bodies and signs of battle as best as they can and retreat back to the secret passage where the Elves are hiding.
• Based on the number of bugbears and goblins they killed, and the numbers that Feyrith told them, they believe there are still more monsters remaining.
• They aim to rest for about three hours, but during the third hour, they begin to hear footsteps from the other side of the secret passage.
• Eventually, a bugbear on the other side discovers the secret door and opens it. The party are waiting for him and attack.
• A second battle is joined, with another half-dozen bugbears and more goblin slaves.
• The party are eventually victorious, but are now very tired and injured and need to rest the night before continuing. However, they think that might be the last of the bugbears. At worst, there are probably only a few left.
• Since they still have some time left in the day, but they are too injured to explore, they spend the rest of the day searching the shrine and the nearby santified room. They don't discover anything of interest.

March 25, 118

• The next day, the party have recovered and head out to explore.
• They find a room that is blocked off by a portcullis. They discover a secret switch that unlocks it, which allows them to lift it and search the room beyond.
• Inside is a medium-sized room filled with alcoves and disturbed coffins (strewn about the room with their lids opened). There are no signs of the occupants of the coffins.
• Beyond this room, they find a secret door which leads to a second portcullis. Inside is a room containing an undead creature, a ghast.
• The party try to reason with the creature, which is extremely hungry and wants them to feed it. They get it to talk by offering it parts from one of the dead goblins. When they throw food in, several smaller creatures, ghouls, also arrive from other parts of the room to eat.
• They try to question the ghast, but its memories consist mostly of darkness and they aren't able to get much useful information out of it. They learn that it and its ghoul companions are trapped behind the portcullis, and that its earliest memory is of the shrine room, nearby.
• Having learned everything they can from the ghast, the party decide to destroy it.