I was right. That absurd cloak the halfling had turned out to be worth several gold. Which I promptly turned into equipment. I picked up a Lantern and some oil crowbars. The rope and grappling hook from one of the other dead men Completed the additional loadout. We recruited a few new fellows to replace the Fallen and went back out to the Barrow maze the next day.
Our first stop was an open Barrow that had been explored previously by some of our fellows. Their bodies were still there inside the borough, but they had been dragged into the corner stripped of meat and possessions. It seemed as if some creature had made a meal of them and. Taken whatever they had. The latter suggests a disturbing intelligence. He took the time to thoroughly search the rest of the room. The corpse in the central sarcophagus had a golden ring which looked to be worth a few coins. That was our first significant find.
With our new crowbars, we headed first for some of the barrows that still had stone slabs closing the entry. Using the crowbars and the rope plus a little bit of wood for leverage, we were able to open one. Inside was a small room with a central sarcophagus, Similar to others we had explored. This sarcophagus was intact. Again, making use of our crowbars, we were able to. Shift the lid a few inches to one side. And look inside. There was a body, as expected, wrapped in a burial shroud, but there was also a glint of gold from around its neck, some sort of necklace. Treasure.
We opened the lid a little bit further and reached in to try and extract the necklace without letting. The skeleton itself out just in case it animated. Of course it did. But it was trapped inside the sarcophagus and we were able to. Smash its skull before it killed any of us. There were quite a few close calls, despite the creature being trapped. Unlike the skeleton with the gem, this one did not reanimate after being destroyed. We were able to extract the necklace and ring.
We moved next to another unopened borough and pried the door off the same as before. This one contained. Two stone tables. Vaguely resembling an altar. Arranged next to each other. Each table had a bowl filled with coins. And vase on the floor next to the far end. And of course a skeleton lying on each table. Expecting them to animate like everything else, we discussed options and decided to. Each of us grab one of the possible treasures and run from the room immediately. There were four possible treasures. 2000s and two bowls and four of us. So that worked out. We grabbed loot and ran. I had picked one of the vases and managed to get it successfully out of the barrow. One of the others smashed his, but we got both bowls.
Skeletons on the tables did not animate, so we went back to take a closer look. We didn’t find any new information or new treasure, but. The change of pace from constantly animating skeletons was different. Between the necklace, the ring, the coins and the bowls and the vases. We figured it was time to head back and see what we could get.
We’re not proper adventurers yet but we’re getting there. And after today’s trip, we finally have some venture capital.
