Searching for cultists in a crypt

We are leaving Ruined Oak on another day near the end of winter and travel in the eastern direction to continue exploring a crypt that is supposedly used by cultists. After half a day of travel a green hooded man is coming up on the road. He appears to be a ranger returning from a hunting trip on his way to Ruined Oak.
We arrive safely at the outpost. The guards think it is nice to see adventurers on the road again. There are rumors had about a new town that is supposed to be built. Apparently not too much is happening at this outpost. Apparently these guards seek the danger.

As we start getting ready for the day, we see Aodh at the outpost as well. Happy to see him catching up to us he joins our group.

Before noon while we are heading further into the east, Sapphire sees off in the distance massive orbs of fire and light coming from the sky. A massive rock appears to be landing just 1.5-2 mile off the road. There is a 60-70 feet radius crater to be found where this rock landed. It is about 20 feet deep. There are multiple rocks lying around that are still glowing red.
Nunde inspects the stone and finds that the meteorite looking rock appears to be coming from an unfamiliar realm. There is a gliterriness to the stone surface of the rocks. The type of rock is a tougher granite or maybe a bit tougher as well. There are some red and gold sparks on the interior of it.

Sapphire attempts to crack the stone open. Carefully chipping away some parts of it, however she is not successfull to get to the red and gold sparks inside the stone. Vivi attempts to use some evocation magic to cool the rock very fast and to heat it back up to break the stone away. Finally the stone breaks away and access to the red and gold sparks is possible.

As the sun begins to set we see a small cottage or house off the road. Nunde walks over there to greet the people. There is a small storage house/attachment. A woman and a man open the door and say that they are new to the area. They made this house very recently as the Jub Jub are nearby and it seems to be a good area for them. Their names are Luke and Sophia and they are both humans. Also they say that the war is over and nothing bad looks to be in the area.

Aodh then walks up directly to the two and asks about cultists. They apppear to be surprised. We don’t press the issue any further though. They like the positioning of the house. They also claim to be able to defend themselves and to be retired adventurers.

We make a quick visit near the Bloodeye and continue towards the crypt entrance.

We arrive near the entrance from last time. Just about a hex outside of our last camp area. We wear the robes of cultists when nearing the entrance.
When getting close to the entrance we see a patrol of cultists in the western direction, that have not seen us yet. We duck ahead and walk inside the tunnel.

After a few minutes we arrive at a set of double doors from last time. There is an eerily quietness in this moist cave below the surface.

In the ceiling of the second room are small holes that might connect to somewhere. Small spiders are walking across the ceiling but the webs are missing. Nunde checks the little pile of stones that he has left here the last time we exited this cave. (He placed these at the door of the second room.) Nothing was tampered with.

In the third room that we found spiders in we can still smell some of the burnt bones and webs in here. But it is much cleaner now.

There is still the “Death’s Arena” to the northern hallway. We decide to go south first.

Nunde fiddles with the door and is able to open it. There is a 15 foot black hallway ahead of us with another door. Also these doors have the same symbol as we have seen on the other doors as well.

Peeking through the key hole is a large urn and 15 feet from the door a wall. There is a stone tablet and stone pillars. In the corners there is some form of wood on the ground. The wood might be the top corner of a casket. The room appears to be expanding towards the west and east.

In the room are a few caskets lying around on the ground. There is some red light in this room. Blueish glowing epitaphs are found on the sides of the room. There are some runes on the epitaphs. Nunde is able to discern a very old elvish rune language on the epitaphs. Unfortunately none of us area able to read it. However we decide to take a rubbing of the epitaphs. They appear to have the exact same runes on them.

Towards the inner wall there are skeletons standing with shortsword and shield. On the northern one the skeletons has not shield and not shortsword but has instead his hands raised to his ears as if protecting his ears or head.

We open a door to the south of that room.
There is a wooden wall towars the back of the hallway. Sapphire and Nunde see a very thick layer of dust. It must have not explored in over a century. The area however is still lit by some magic.

There is some sort of waiting room around the corner.
The other room appears to be a graveyard within a crypt. There are three little mausoleums on the southern side and four crypts to the northern side. They have blankeds and pillows to the northern part of the room.

There is a book on the table in the crypt room. There are multiple names (humans, elvish, dwarvish) inside the book. The rest of the book is empty.
The plaque has something written on it in common.
“I’m sometimes found in a pot but I’m not stew.
I can be a bar but Im not soap.
Im a type of metal but Im not tin.
I can be a medal but Im not silver.” – The answer to this is provided by Nunde and he thinks it is “gold”.

Someone thinks that the names in the book have a gold coin donated. Like donation of 1 gold for the option to sleep in these crypts. We don’t find any gold coins though.

Following the way to the right we find a hallway and a large room. There are many sarcophags on the north and south and two epitaphs centered. There is some sort of circle in this room. Barry says there is some evocation magic most likely for the light. Then there is some magic on the epitaphs but it is strange.

Nunde is sure that there is no trap in the middle of the room. He puts stuff in his bag. As he starts taking the gold the epitaphs to the north and south dash open, there is a strange language and two skeletons appear.

Barry uses his clerics ability to turn most of the undead that are swarming us in the room.
Spirits are more dangerous than bone knights.
After the fight Nunde peaks through the door to the right.
There is pillars and a large altar like looking table that something glistens in. It appears to be dusty as well.
After about a minute the spirits that have been turned and ran away trhough the walls come back.

We head back to the room with the crypts and beds. There we take a short rest. There is an eerie stillness. Then there is a bang coming from the east.

After the rest we go to the very east. The doorknob there appears to be different than the others. At first the doorknob feels different as they are skulls.
Behind the door are 6 pillars. Centered on the pillars is a stone table. On the table is a golden key.

As Nunde grabs the key and there is some sort of heatwave that pulses through him that shortly disappears after. The detect magic reveals some evocation and necrotic magic around the center of the room.

The teeth of the key and the key handle is made of bones. Teeth of finger bones and handle by skull. It is also coated in gold. With the identify spell, Nunde learns that it is a skull key bound to the crypt that unlocks something. However there is a choice tied to it. Something bad might happen to the wielder or the key when leaving the crypt with it.

Then we start getting closer to the north door.
Behind it there is darkness as there is no light on the other side. There is a long hallway ahead of us followed by another door. This door has door handles with skulls but not the symbols like the other doors had so far.

Behind hte next doors there is a faint red aura and four stone pillars in the room. In the center of the room is a raised platform and something raised on top of the platform. This door has the symbol on the door again.

In the center there is an octagon and a wooden coffin. On either side of the room are three wooden coffins. There are some strange runes on the edging of the floor underneath the coffin. There is no magic aura in this room besides the magical embers that are illuminating the room with a faint red glowing aura.

Ignoring most of the room Nunde rushes forward and attempts to scout ahead. The door appears to be blocked by some old dried up wood. It bloocks most of the vision and als o to open inward.

We decide to head back and Nunde attempts to hide the key near the entrance underneath some rocks. Nunde makes a little x with rocks on the position, puts some rocks near a door to see if something comes thorugh and then we are able to leave the crypt without any trouble.

After leaving we still notice that there are some hooded patrols in the area. However we are able to dip into the plains and head back to the blood eye clan.

We travel the next day from the blood eye to the Jub Jub and end our adventure there.