4. Tomb of Horrors Chapter Four

We cross the bridge and see buildings comprised of randomly sized stones mortared together into uneven walls. The rocks are from cairns that were destroyed to make the building. There are a number of tapestries in the room, including one that looks like it's wrong, with a human in the tapestry who appears to have been trapped in it. We recognize him as Flynn Romani. Another one seems to be a warning about a trapped door. Some of them are mundane, but the one with Flynn inside has some sort of temporal magic. Erich pulls Flynn out of the tapestry, and Flynn relates that he ran into Quiver, and used that information to trace us here.

Erich and Eldaen go into the next room and see two series of numbers on the wall in brass and black iron. Pock theorizes that it is temporal based, like the sundial we saw earlier, which is proven correct when Baltazar stands in front off the flame and casts his shadow on the numbers. Baltazar stands in front of the number for the hour of the day, and five mad wraith terrors emerge to attack us.

Erich launches a psionic attack on two of the wraiths. Flynn swings his broadsword to bat aside of those wraiths and slides him back, knocking three of the wraiths prone. Pock fires ring of pain at another wraith, leaving him with resounding psychic pain. Eldaen swings a radiant smite at another wraith, and Baltazar follows up with a swing that misses.

Erich uses mind break on Pock's target, making him vulnerable to psychic damage. Flynn moves in to flank with Eldaen. Wraith attacks Eldaen and forces him to attack Baltazar. The wraith targeted by Erich is bloodied, and he moves in to attack Erich, who attacks Pock. missing and letting Pock shadow slip away. Erich reacts with infernal wrath to hit the wraith with fire, then uses his forceful push to send him out of the room. The others float back into the room. Pock uses shared agony on the bloodied wraith, destroying it. Eldaen swings a holy strike at the wraith in front of him. Baltazar orders Flynn to attack that wraith, and he bloodies him.

Erich unleashes a mind blast on the three other wraiths, stunning them. Flynn uses jumping blade assault on the bloodied wraith, knocking him prone. He stands up and swings his claws at Flynn, but he uses his bracer of defense to reduce damage. Pock blasts the bloodied wraith, making us invisible to him. Eldaen hits him with a holy strike, destroying it. Baltazar orders Erich to use mind break on the wraith in front of him, making him vulnerable to psychic damage.

Erich is bloodied by the wraiths' aura, uses a blast on all three wraiths, missing one and critically hitting another. Flynn tumbles past the wraiths to get into flanking position. One wraith is stunned, the others strike at Erich, hurting him fairly badly, and Flynn, bloodying him and sending him to attack Erich, but he misses. Pock launches witchfire at one of the wraiths, bloodying him. Eldaen moves in, uses his resurgent smite to attack a wraith, helping to heal both Erich and Pock. Baltazar heals Erich.

Erich uses dishearten on two of the wraiths. Flynn takes his second wind, and is no longer bloodied. The wraiths miss Eldaen and Erich, due to his intellect fortress. Pock fires eldritch blast at the bloodied wraith. Eldaen swings with heedless fury, and he is bloodied, but Baltazar immediately heals him with inspiring word.

Erich uses dishearten on two of the wraiths, hitting the non-bloodied one. Flynn uses rogue's luck on the bloodied wraith, but it isn't quite destroyed. Two of them swing back at him, bloodying him, and the other swings and misses Eldaen. Pock moves up, spends his action point, uses word of kharad to force them to move and hit one another, killing the bloodied wraith. Eldaen charges and crits a wraith, bloodying him. Baltazar orders him to do it again, and he misses.

Erich tries and fails to pick up the staff. Flynn moves to the back of the room, away from the aura, and is nearly unconscious. One wraith hits Eldaen, who resists with divine counter, and another misses him. Pock fires an eldritch blast at the bloodied wraith. Eldaen attacks the bloodied wraith with holy strike. Baltazar orders him to strike again, and he crits and destroys it.

Erich fires mind break at the remaining wraith, making him vulnerable to psychic damage and bloodying him. Wraith hits Eldaen. Pock fires an eldritch blast at the wraith. Eldaen hits the last wraith with holy strike, negating its aura. Baltazar moves forward and uses war of attrition on it, missing, then uses stand tough to heal the party.

Erich uses mind thrust on the wraith. Flynn moves out, draws a dagger and throws it with a sly flourish. Wraith hits Eldaen and bloodies him. Pock curses him, fires and misses. Eldaen swings a holy strike at the wraith, Baltazar follows up with a guarding attack and destroys it.

With the combat over, we take a brief rest, and begin inspecting the tapestries. One of them radiates illusion and weak teleportation magic. Baltazar puts the key in the lock of the tapestry, and there is a click. Flynn inspects it but can't make anything of it. Erich thinks back to the sun dial to figure out what time to match up on the torch, and he matches it, and a secret door reveals itself. We follow the corridor down and see a series of rooms. The chamber is luxurious, with five small gaming tables around the edge. Eldaen, hearing voices, closes his eyes and moves to put his hand on a table. Baltazar, Flynn and Eldaen are drawn into games with phantoms.

Flynn resists, and takes psychic damage for his troubles, at which point he sits down and begins playing. Eldaen uses insight to play against his foe, and tells the others to open their eyes. Erich, irritated at being excluded, runs over and demands to be let into a game, but his innate mental defenses resist it. Pock fires a bolt of fire at Eldaen's table, setting it alight. Baltazar intimidates his opponent.

Flynn and Eldaen continue playing, as Erich continues to try and get into a game, and Pock fires an eldritch blast at Eldaen's table again. Baltazar calls upon historical knowledge to try and win his game. Erich is finally dominated into a game.

We all continue playing except for Pock, who continues blasting Eldaen's table and discovers some teleportation magic preparing itself in the other room. Flynn, using cheating and bluff, manages to win his game. Pock blows up Eldaen's table, "winning" his game. Using his streetwise skills, Baltazar wins his game. Flynn goes over to try the last table, as Erich knocks the pieces over and leaves his game. Pock moves into the room and blasts another table.

Baltazar runs over to the table and hits it with his flail. Flynn is once again dominated by the table, and begins playing. Eldaen runs over and attacks the table Pock and Baltazar are attacking. Erich launches a psychic attack on the table. Pock destroys it with an eldritch blast. The table dominates Baltazar to defend him, and Flynn tries to use streetwise but is unsuccessful. Eldaen, Pock and Erich continue attacking the table, and Baltazar swings at Eldaen but misses him. Flynn defeats the game, and then we finish smashing the table.

We find a trap door, and Pock opens the lock so that we can go into some underground tunnels, where we find an entrance into an oddly shaped room. Eldaen stealthily scouts ahead, spotting runes on the walls and discovers something similar to Pock. The whole group advances into the room, and the runes begin lighting up again. Erich determines that illusion and teleportation magic is coming from the room. The lights go out, and when they come back up there are duplicates of each of us.

Pock's duplicate attacks him, and he becomes invisible in reaction. Flynn's duplicate attacks and misses him. Erich's duplicate steps back and attacks, missing him. Baltazar's duplicate blasts Erich, Eldaen and Baltazar, knocking them prone. Eldaen's duplicate reaches out and attacks him, bloodying him. Flynn uses his armor to turn invisible, then uses an action point to jump and attack Eldaen's duplicate. Eldaen moves up, attacks his duplicate with holy outrage, bloodying him, and spends an action point to lay hands on himself. Erich fires a hypnotic pattern at three of the duplicates, then spends an action point to dishearten all three of them. Pock teleports into the room, then teleports again to see the rest of the combat and curses Eldaen's duplicate, firing a blast of forceful assault at him. Baltazar stands and moves up, uses an action point to attack Eldaen's duplicate with bastion of defense.

Pock's duplicate moves in and hits him. Flynn's duplicate moves to attack Flynn. Erich's duplicate fires at Flynn with fire and radiant damage. Baltazar's duplicate tries to withering touch Eldaen, but he misses, and Eldaen's duplicate misses Eldaen. Erich slides Eldaen away from his duplicate, allowing Flynn a clear shot at Eldaen's duplicate, but he misses. Erich blasts three of the duplicates with dishearten, hitting Baltazar, Eldaen and his own duplicates. Eldaen moves up, finishes off his duplicate, which triggers Pock's curse on the remaining enemies. Pock uses shared agony on Erich's duplicate, destroying it, and then teleports next to Flynn. Baltazar misses his own duplicate.

Flynn's duplicate attacks and misses Eldaen. Pock's duplicate moves up and attacks Baltazar, and is knocked prone in response. Erich's duplicate rises up, spewing gray mist, and fires a flattering wind at Flynn and Pock, hitting Flynn and knocking him prone. Baltazar's duplicate misses. Eldaen's duplicate rises up and attacks Eldaen, missing him. Flynn charges Baltazar's duplicate, but he hits Baltazar instead. Eldaen swings at Baltazar's duplicate, who uses a power to swap places, so that Eldaen hits Baltazar and heals his duplicate. Erich blasts Pock's duplicate and Baltazar's duplicate, killing Baltazar's duplicate. Pock blasts Flynn's duplicate with witchfire. Baltazar uses inspiring fortitude to heal himself, and is no longer bloodied.

Pock's duplicate uses phase shift to teleport next to Pock. Flynn's duplicate moves past Eldaen and next to Flynn, drawing an attack from Eldaen. Baltazar's duplicate rises up, full of gray mist, uses flattering wind on Flynn and Erich, hitting only Flynn. Flynn stands and attacks his duplicate. Eldaen moves in, attacks Flynn, but holy outrage bloodies his duplicate. Erich uses mind thrust on Flynn's duplicate, but hits Flynn instead. He feels bad, so he uses Majestic Word to heal him. Pock shifts away from his duplicate and eldritch blasts Flynn's duplicate, missing him. Baltazar attacks Flynn's duplicate with war of attrition and misses, gives inspiring word to Flynn to end his bloodied condition.

Pock's duplicate moves up to attack Pock. Flynn's duplicate phase shifts next to Flynn. Flynn uses riposte strike on his duplicate, steps back. We finish them off. We find a weird lever in another room.