The Beast in the Bone Chambers
Hook
A gargantuan beast assembled from the dead remains guarded the lower Bone Chambers of Castle Avernus. The party destroyed it, then escaped through the tunnel it had used.
Evidence
- The creature charged from an ossuary supported by bone dogs and humanoid skeletons.
- Ordinary bludgeoning force appeared less effective against it than Ignatius’s infused strikes.
- Pearl’s grave magic injured it and forced it back toward a northern tunnel.
- Carver believed its position suggested that it guarded something beyond the opening.
- A Boom Stick exploded within the passage and injured both the creature and Ignatius.
- In the resumed battle, the golem struck Rage twice and tried to retreat through the bones.
- Carver and Chip destroyed it with a devastating flamethrower; its rib cage collapsed into bone and rock.
- A large bone dog also fell, but the room continued to raise skeletons from its remains.
- The party concluded that the ossuary’s horde was effectively endless and escaped through the animal-dug tunnel.
Open questions
- What enchantment continually raises skeletons in the Bone Chambers?
- What lies beyond the tunnel, including the lower laboratory the party discovered?
- Is the ossuary or laboratory connected to Irik’s tomb, Azalin’s phylactery, or something else entirely?
Resolution
The party destroyed the bone golem and escaped the endlessly replenishing skeleton horde through its animal-dug tunnel. The ossuary remains dangerous, but the guarded beast itself is gone.