Savage Tide Session 18

The party descended into the tunnel, ignoring the sounds of a large beast snorting from the shoreline to the south. The tunnels were flooded with muddy rainwater up to 4ft deep, and Jardek needed the boots of levitation to keep his beard dry. The passage heading far to the west, underneath the clusters of huts. A swarm of rats fled past the party as they pressed on, desperate to escape whatever lay within. Eventually, the party came across a junction with thick tree roots descending into the corridor through the ceiling. Tentative prodding of the roots revealed entombed corpses hidden within and disguise to look like wood, but animated and ready to strike any who passed by. Stefanie stepped up to destroy the creatures, calling upon the power of Vanya, and Zhedd managed to find a few more lurking under the water. Turning north past a collapsed passageway. the party came across another corridor heading east, with narrow fissures leading to another passage in the southern wall and went to investigate. A large mass of vegetation sprang out of the water and attacked, but was soon dispatched. Beyond this, they found two cowering troglodytes, which Dacien and Zhedd heard plotting to escape - but not before Krunk charged past and dispatched them both with his axe. One was rescued from the brink of death and questioned - revealign that he had been under the control of a 'scary eel creature' that had controlled its thoughts and led it here to capture the human villagers. It was now free of that control and desperate to flee.

A 'scary eel creature', as described by the Troglodyte and identified by Dacien as a Kopru.

Further in the complex, the party found a chamber full of zombies, the walls of the room lined with tiger pelts. Hidden on the eastern wall was a secret door which led down to a flooded chamber where three troglodytes lay in wait. After a slow battle, the troglodytes conjured a mist to cover their tracks as they fled. In hot pursuit, the party ran through the mist and into another chamber - where a dark skinned human with a skull painted over his face waited on a throne - the Zombie Master. A stiffened spinal column was held in one hand, and he gestured at the party as they entered and vanished. Krunk ran in and was set upon by a fossilised dinosaur that burst our form the wall, and a skeletal minotaur that burst from a stalagmite. More skeletal limbs burst from the floor and walls and tore at the party's flesh. The party were then quick to control the battlefield when they realised they faced an invisible foe - silencing the room whilst Mendel's keen ears pinpointed any sound of spellcraft for the target of his arrows. The Zombie Master tried to retreat through a hidden door, to regroup and attack the party, even calling an elemental to his aid, but in the end to no avail.

Beyond the secret door was a passage that led to an underground lagoon that seemed to open up to the sea. The lagoon was filled with scores of corpses, their heads all removed, which tainted the waters red. A cavern was visible across the lagoon from which a deep swirling purple mist emerged. Thinking themselves too worn down from the earlier battles, the party retreated to rest and prepare for what lay ahead. They tried first to leave the catacombs the way they entered, but found the entrance collapsed, with a strange smell of entrails and putrefaction.

That night, a troglodyte warband attempted to swarm the party, led by what appeared to be one of the Kopru they had heard described earlier. They were fought off and the passageway resealed. Come dawn, the party decided to clear the rest of the complex behind them before descending further. More undead and ceremonial chambers were found, including a trapdoor up into what appeared to be the Zombie Master's hut. From there, Jardek spotted a sickly looking elasmasaurus atop the pyramid in the centre of the village. The storm itself was still in force and showing no signs of abating. They retreated back into the catacombs to complete their exploration from where they entered.