08.3 Gold Rush

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Kalans Revenge Mercenary Company
Company members:-
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Krachtig – A Tricksy Gnome
NPC – Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
NPC – Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
NPC – Saeryn Ghent – Fighter – (Kalans Sister)

Miners, Temples and Death

Krachtig casts an illusion of a ruin on Tarans house to try and prevent more attacks.  Meanwhile we hear through our Garelithian contacts that a temple has been discovered by some gold miners down on the South part of the Island, they heard some noises and hightailed it out of there.  Sounds interesting and we don’t have any other pressing matters (apart from trying to destabilize the Barelin government on the island) so decide to take the boat around to the other side.
On the way an immense set of tentacles reach over the side of the boat and tries to grab some of the crew members.  We leap into action figuring a kraken is attacking and Taran jumps over the side of the boat as he can see circling sharks, he forgets the water is about 20’ below and lands ungracefully.  Lightning bolts are hurled into the water making Taran dance about a bit but he does not get shocked.  The crew on the boat make short work of chopping through the tentacles and many arrows are spent shooting at the kraken and sharks, one nasty incident of the kraken shooting a burning ink onto the decks temporarily blinds Corinne and cause pain to others but Barrigan eventually creates enough water for them to wash it off.  Soon the mutilated body of the gigantic squid slips into the dark waters and we dive down into the depths to search through its lair and recover some amazing treasures.
Before we reach our destination we face another aquatic foe in the shape of a beholder, there are some thoughts of surrender after remembering our previous encounter and soon enough Taran is nailed by a death ray from one of its eyeballs, a flurry of missiles brings about the demise of this feared creature and once again it’s lair holds some fine treasure.  Taran is bought back to life and we sail onwards.
We locate the village after bidding the sailors farewell, it seems that they don’t have much trouble sailing these waters and think our presence had something to do with the attacks – purely coincidental surely.
We get directions to where we might find the gold prospectors and after some discussions about folding back to get our mounts, settle on magically summoned creatures courtesy of Krachtig and Carinne.  The day’s journey to their camp is uneventful and we need to persuade the miner, using a big sack of copper coins we had recovered from the deep, as to the location of the temple. They seem skeptical as to our ability to deal with the undead found therein, we convince them that we can handle whatever is thrown our way and Carinne conjures forth a magnificent mansion for us to stay in for the night, complete with indoor plumbing and servants.
The next day we head in the direction of the temple and encounter a golem which veers towards us.  Between the six of us we bring it down quickly.
We gingerly enter the long abandoned temple and Taran casts a find traps spell, straight away several pit traps and magical traps are found. We bypass the mechanical ones and dispel the magic types and come across a sarcophagus on a three tiered dais, with warrior statues in each corner. Krachtig investigates further and each of the steps gives off a note in an ascending pitch. We decide to explore other areas of the tomb before messing with this area.  
One heavily trapped side corridor leads us into a store room where half a dozen specters emerge to attack us; our defensive magics hold firm and we send these abominations back to the grave.  Moving to another corridor we enter a room with eight coffins arrayed evenly around the walls, sure enough the inhabitants attacks us and we are confronted by eight mummies. This is too much for Saeryn and Krachtig who run away looking for clean underwear.  Lanneus calls upon the might of Mannanan Mac Lir to turn these undead which works against half of them.  We manage to kill these but not before Taran and Barrigan take fearsome wounds which need careful healing later.  We can then beat the others down one by one as they cower in the corner.
The next room we enter contains a single coffin which has several traps on it.  These are skillfully disarmed by Krachtig and the resident turns out to be a skeletal warrior who makes short work of Taran by piercing him through the heart with a huge sword.  The others, enraged by the loss of their leader, attack the foe with abandon and barely notice the fireball the creature drops on them.  Once the dust settles, Barrigan, with a tear in his eye brings the life back to his comrade.
The next room we come across is swarming with shadows which are blown to oblivion by the godly might of Barrigan and Lanneus.
We finally come back to the dais with the sarcophagus and remove any traps on it. As soon as it is touched the four statues animate and attack the party.  Krachtig who stands atop the dais warns that the silver sealing on the casket seems to be melting and turns to flee. We soon overcome the stone golems but the lich that raises from its confinement blasts Krachtig and Carinne with lightning bolts.  A worried gnome soon erects an anti magic shield to stop that happening again.
Taran then disappears in what we recognize to be a maze spell and soon it is down to a toe to toe battle with Barrigan, the others being held or stunned in some manner by the lich.  Barrigan manages to disrupt the beast with one final blow from his mace of disruption before he too is struck down.
Before Taran comes back from the Maze, Krachtig casts an illusion on the room to show it empty and he leaps out of the coffin when Taran reappears.  A mean trick to play on a warrior with swords in his hands prepared to leap into battle.  Tricksy Gnomes.