Session 69 - Gargoyles, Part 2

The adventurers kill the rest of the green gargoyles guarding the main mausoleum and begin exploring the dungeon below.

This write-up is based on Kay’s notes from our October 29, 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: Green Guardian Gargoyles
Location: The Rappan Athuk Graveyard
Date: Sunday, June 26, 3517

6AM
We were looking at the four remaining gargoyles across the front of the roof on the southern mausoleum building. Our group gathered at the entrance to the eastern mausoleum building like last time, our fallback position. The building has a double door, so we blocked the north door with three sarcophagi lids and kept the south door open.

As before, Blaze positioned herself on the terrace at the same elevation as the roof with the gargoyles. Elron, Breena and Artie were waiting on the stairs of the east mausoleum.

Blaze unleashed a lightning bolt in a line, catching all four gargoyles, then high-tailed it to the eastern mausoleum. Gargoyles 1, 7, and 8 got the full effect; Gargoyle 2 only took half damage. Breena then cast vitriolic sphere with a 20-ft radius, in the middle of their line, catching all of them with full effect; then retreated into the eastern mausoleum. Elron shot Gargoyle 8 with his longbow and hit twice, killing it, then moved into the building. Artie cast fire bolt at Gargoyle 8, shattering it. Parahelia and Sinis were already both waiting for a target.  

Gargoyles 2 and 7 both flew full out toward Blaze, while Gargoyle 1 flew to the eastern mausoleum door, swooping down toward Breena.  

Both Gargoyle 2 and Gargoyle 7 were within 5 feet of Blaze when she cast thunder step; the spell teleported her to the eastern mausoleum and the two gargoyles took force damage from it. Breena cast thunderwave at Gargoyle 1 for minor damage and moved into the building.

Elron used his sling and magic stone on Gargoyle 1 and hit it, knocking a piece of stone off. It altered its course to target Elron. Elron missed twice and ducked back into the building as the gargoyle landed on the steps where he had been.

Artie hit Gargoyle 1 with an arrow from his short bow for chipping the creature. Sinis cast acid splash on it, but it dodged nimbly out of the way. 

Gargoyle 2 landed in front of Artie and slashed him with a claw. Gargoyle 7 moved through the doorway, injuring Blaze with teeth and claw. Gargoyle 1 moved to the door and shoved Gargoyle 2 out of the way, and raked Artie with a claw.

Blaze and Breena hit Gargoyle 7 with a lightning bolt and witch bolt respectively; it shattered, flinging green gravel everywhere. Rocky popped his head up from behind a sarcophagus, didn’t like what he was seeing and then ducked back down.

Elron aimed his sling at Gargoyle 2 but he missed and the sling ripped. He pulled a spare off of his belt and readied another shot.

Artie disengaged and slipped inside the mausoleum. At this point, Parahelia cast spirit guardians, moved to the sarcophagus, and cast spiritual weapon. Sinis cast acid splash on Gargoyle 1 which made a sizzling sound. Gargoyle 2 moved to the door, stepping into the spirt guardians and they pummeled it as it gored Elron with its horn.

Gargoyle 1 laughed, stepped up to Breena, picked her up none to gently with its claws while the spirit guardians flailed at it. As it tried to swat away a particularly insistent spirit, Breena slipped out of its grip.

Sinis cast acid splash on Gargoyle 1, killing it, and on Gargoyle 2, damaging it.

Breena cast thunderwave of Gargoyle 2, shattering it.

All the gargoyles were now dead. Blaze started healing those who needed it, then Parahelia cast cure wounds on Breena, and Elron cast goodberries (8) to give one more point of healing to any who still needed it. 

6:50 AM
Elron looted the ‘bodies,’ got 6 eyes and 3 horns, and found some pieces of shiny stones to give our giant raven back home. Elron then went to the south mausoleum for the rest of the gargoyles, climbing up to the roof, searched the debris and found another horn and eye.

7 AM
With Elron still on the roof, our final tally was 12 horns (worth 250gp/each) and 15 eyes (500gp/each). Elron finally gave up looking for the last eye. We had just made 10,000 gp.

Elron slipped and got minor bruises when he climbed down. Elron handed Blaze the key to the door of the southern mausoleum. She started by reading the portions of the Journal of Helman Hairfoot, the halfling who described how his party started out in this graveyard and ended up in the Ogres’ Cave. We’ll be following their path.

From the journal:

“The key unlocked the door to the mausoleum and then vanished. Once inside we found there were no doors. Searching for secret doors, we found one. As Undntilrmo opened it, the floor began to rise.

 

We all went inside before the rising floor passed the top of the opening; Wikvaya came close to losing a foot.

 

We passed down a tunnel cut in the stone to several rooms that were mostly empty. Then we came to a stairway with a trap on it. It was a clever design but easy to bypass.

We found a room with mostly broken furniture and a leaky roof.

 

There was a large pit trap at the room’s east exit. Undntilrmo almost fell in, but was able to jump back just in time.”

We walked down the stairs and Blaze opened the door. The key disappeared just as the journal described. Looking inside, there was dust in the air, broken weapons, butts of torches, a large sarcophagus on a platform with two brass candelabras with black candles that were lit.



Elron stepped in and noticed, on the floor, broken bones, and looking up, an indentation in the ceiling that matched the sarcophagus. Breena noticed vertical scrapes on the wall. We started searching for secret doors. Artie decided to guard the outside. We searched the walls. Breena scanned the ceiling and saw bits of hair.

We figured the rising floor was real.

Blaze, at the middle of the back wall, found something on the floor, cracks around one of the floor tiles were clean, no dust. She asked Artie to come in and check it.

Yes, it’s a secret door; it was unlocked and not trapped. Blaze and Elron used their combined strength to push the door open. 

At this point, the lid to the sarcophagus opened revealing a black skeleton that cackled manically. The door to the north slammed shut and there was a loud click as it locked. Artie and Elron tried pushing the secret door again and it opened onto a shaft with a ladder down. Artie hurried down and Elron slid down the ladder after him.

Breena slammed the lid down on the black skeleton, hitting its head with a thud. The rest of the group headed down the ladder quickly. Looking up, we saw the shaft behind us telescoping with the opening being blocked by the sarcophagus platform.

At the bottom was a tunnel going east. To the west was a dead-end passage with the ladder. We travelled east and northeast to a door. The door was not locked or trapped. Elron opened it and continued on to a fork with two passages. To the left we felt a breeze to the northeast with an odor like rats. On the right was a room with a door to the east and a small rat-gnawed looking tunnel leading northeast and up.

 

Continued in Session 70 - Dungie & Rats