Session 62 - Black Skeleton Surprise!

The adventurers set off a trap that released six black skeletons and nearly lost two party members.

This write up is based on Kay’s notes from our July 23, 2025 session. Since our group is scattered around the country, we use Discord for our voice communication and Roll20 for our virtual tabletop. Thanks to Kay for the write-up and screen shots.

Continued from: Ghouls & Wererats

Location: Rappan Athuk Level 2: Ambro’s Base

Date: Friday, June 17, 3517 
 

4:50 AM
Blaze reminded the group about the brass key we found and Artie tried it on the locked doors. Much to our disappointment, it doesn’t work. The north door was unlocked with no traps. He checked for traps on the southern door on the west wall and found none.

5:10 AM
Blaze and Breena went up the stairs to the east to check it out. They saw about 20 giant rats milling around upstairs. Fortunately, the rats didn’t notice the two. 

Elron unlocked the northern door on the west wall, opened it, and walked through while Artie was still working on the southwest door lock.

Blaze and Breena came down the stairs quickly, explained to the group what they discovered and hustled everyone into the new room, closing the door and latching it. The area seemed to be a short hallway to the west that turned south and had a closed door at its end. Artie checked it for traps. It was unlocked, but stuck, and he found no traps.

When Elron forced the door open, Parahelia, Breena, Artie, and Sinis, standing near the north wall, heard stone grinding behind them. A secret door had opened in the north wall behind them and several black skeletons come through. The first one targeted Parahelia, swung twice with a short sword, critically injuring her and draining most of her strength with its attack.

Blaze, who was half-way down the south hallway, lined up her attack for lightning bolt and hit three skeletons with it causing serious damage; prompting the first skeleton to target her, moving forward, and swinging at her. It missed.

Artie, near Blaze, backed up and waited for a clear shot. 

Breena cast magic missiles and hit the first skeleton in line with all of them, causing more damage. 

Elron moved up and hit the first one with his sling, missing the second, and hitting the third one. Sinis, who had been standing next to one of the skeletons at the door, disengaged and moved down the hallway.

The second skeleton came through the door. Parahelia, who could see through the door into the room beyond, counted six of them. She cast Turn Undead which had no effect. Blaze yelled at her that we had heard a rumor that black skeletons can’t be turned by clerics.

The first skeleton went after Blaze, its first swing with a short sword hit for damage and strength loss, its second swing missed.

The second skeleton in line moved out into the passage, attacking Parahelia, missed with its first swing, but hit with its second, critically injuring her and draining more strength.

The first skeleton swung at Blaze, and hit for more damage and strength drain. Blaze ran down the hall to the south door. The remaining black skeletons in the room were blocked from getting out by the traffic in the hall.

Artie cast fire bolt on the first skeleton and killed it, then backed up and hid behind Elron.

Breena ran through the door to the south and waited, yelling that we should all go through the door and fight through it. Elron’s sling stone hit the second skeleton with the sound of cracking bones. 

Sinis moved to the south door after Breena, and cast erupting earth on the skeletons at the north door; four of them took damage from it. Parahelia lay unconscious on the floor in front of them, dying as blood pooled around her.

Black skeleton 2 moved down to Artie but didn’t notice him, as he hid. Black skeleton 3 followed behind 2. 

Blaze lined up a lightning bolt attack, killed black skeleton 2, damaged 3 and 4, then went through the south door, joining Breena and Sinis.

Black skeleton #5 finally came through the north door, while Artie dived through the south door. Breena stepped out of the south door to get a line of sight to cast witch bolt on black skeleton 4 and hit it.

Elron’s sling stone hit the same one killing it, and his second shot hit black skeleton 3 standing next to it.

Sinis, standing in front of the south door, cast acid splash on black skeleton 3, finishing it off. He then ducked around the corner into the south room. 

Black skeleton 5 moved south. Blaze cast lightning bolt on black skeletons 6 and 5, both of whom failed to dodge. Still smoking from the lightning, black skeleton 6 advanced towards Blaze. Artie cast fire bolt at it, but missed.

People who were in the room at the south noticed a rolling sound behind them, but their attention was focused on the skeletons in the hallway. Artie darted behind the door into the room.

Breena cast magic missiles, three hit and killed black skeleton 5, and the last two missiles hit black skeleton 6. Elron noticed the rumbling sound from the south was moving away. He sling hit black skeleton 6, and killed it, with bones flying everywhere. 

We ran to Parahelia, who was lying on the broken floor. Blaze called for people to close and lock doors so we could secure the space to save her. Breena got to her first with a healing kit that stopped her bleeding, stabilized her from dying. Parahelia began regaining consciousness.

When she was fully conscious, she cast channel divinity, and regained hit points to herself and Blaze. Blaze used one of her healing kits on herself to regain health, and gave Breena one of her healing kits to replace the one she just used.

Sinis and Elron checked out the room to the south we had been using and found the source of the rumbling sound. Rolling north and south in a hallway south of the room, was a large spiked ball, 3-feet in diameter; its pathway ended at an archway where the room began.

At the south end of the hallway was a sarcophagus with a small body in front of it; there was dim firelight coming from the south. Along the hall’s floor were bones with armor, crushed and strewn around. The ball was going in a straight line, and it appeared that either Breena or Artie could try going along the wall on each side to get past it.

While we were inspecting this, Parahelia cast cure wounds on herself to increase her health back towards full.

We discussed getting to the sarcophagus; the ceiling was 10-ft tall, and the ball was 3-ft tall; Blaze could levitate someone, while magic hands could push them to the end of the hallway. Enough people were seriously wounded that we decided to hole up here for a long rest. Elron cast goodberries and everyone got one, saving our ration packs for another day.

June 18

5AM
Everyone got their strength back after a long rest. We investigated the secret door at the north where the skeletons came from. Inside the room, we looked for secret doors. The black skeletons had old scrap armor and short swords, no loot, and rags from what might have been uniforms. We searched for 10 minutes but only found the remains of a latch tied to something that caused the door to open on its own when the door to the south was opened.

Elron heard someone on the other side of the door to the main hallway with the stairs. It sounded like two humanoids talking in common, accompanied by several giant rats.

"It wasn't him."

"Good, he gives me the creeps."

"Probably adventurers."

"Let’s go back up, I hate this level."

There was the sound of at least a dozen giant rats moving away.

Elron waited, opened the door, and saw nothing but the giant rat bodies from before. We decided to have Artie go into the main hallway to the southern west door to see if he could open it. We think it might give us access to the south end of the hall with the sarcophagus in it. 

Artie went to the southwest door. Blaze positioned herself against the wall beside the stairs and the others fanned out.

Artie tried to unlock the door, spent 20 minutes failing. Blaze suggested that Sinis change the metal of the lock to wood and we’d use the hand axe to chop through it. Ten minutes later, it was wood.

We heard someone coming down the stairs from the east. We quickly dove back through the northwest door and locked it. They sounded like they were going to the south end of the hall. We heard some activity and 10 minutes later they went back up the stairs and it was quiet.

Looking out of the door to the south, we saw that the dead ghouls were gone.

Continued in Session 63 - Grubs, Rats and a Black Skeleton