Category The Tormentors

After pursuing the fleeing tigerman into a stocked larder festooned with hanging bodies the group chats with a deceased elf (via the cleric’s speak with dead ring). Turns out that he is just one of a string of adventurers that have come to he area seeking wealth. A bit of looting and a bit of scooting and the group resumes the trek through the caverns.
Eventually they enter a large cavern with a river running through it. In the midst of the river there is an island of sorts and stepping stones lead across the river. As they explore the riverside, they are attacked by a troll that surfaces from the river. The cleric is savaged and tossed into the depths to drown, while a second troll attacks the mage from the rear, cloaked in invisibility...

After spending some time with the oracle, the party deduces that the Rotting Man is local, so they set about exploring. They uncover a shrine that houses some undead and a crucified and flayed giant. Defeating them, the party finds the protected tomb of an elf warrior maiden. The group puzzles over this for a while, then resumes exploring the area.
Eventually they enter a series of rooms festooned with implements of torture, and in the next room they surprise some orcs torturing a human chained to a pair of planks. As the group enters, a demon suddenly appears and attacks the cleric. The party rallies as the orcs transform into jackal headed warriors and attack.
As the battle rages, the mage pummles the demon with spells as the rest of the party battles the warriors...

Wandering around the cavern some more, the group finds a hidden staircase that winds into the base of a huge stalagmite, and where the stair ends – a cleverly hidden secret door, The door is opened to reveal a room lined in lead and inscribed with symbols – one of which turns the lad insane.
After the insanity is cured, the group resumes investigation and finds a marble sarcophagus, inscribed with runes and sealed with lead. The coffin is opened and the ensuing blast of fire nearly kills one of the party – but they are saved in the nick of time. Inside the coffin is the well preserved body of a mage – perhaps – encased in a shimmering blue field of energy. Malchor opines that it could be a stasis field – and after several unsuccessful attempts to loot the body, the group retreats.
They des...

The group continues investigating the level, wandering into and then rapidly out of some crumbling dirt caves. They find door after locked door – one of which is ornate and bears runes that are read and reveal it to be the resting place of a paladin turned evil. Bypassing said door, the group eventually finds, tussles with and slays a barbarian vagrant who appears to be living off of rat meat.
They take his key and kill his larder full of rats. They investigate doors one by one until they enter the crypt of the fallen paladin. The fallen paladin wields a greatsword to great effect, slaying The Gal and nearly doing in several other party members before he is brought down.
The fallen are raised and the wounded are healed...

Passing through the foreboding door leads the group to a maze of passageways and traps. They wander about for a short time then find a set of stairs heading down. The boredom is interrupted by an iron cobra that tries to strike down the party, but it is swiftly slain by the missile mage.
The stairs terminate and more doors are found and opened/ Exploration continues and more strange things are found. Among them are a group of shrieking black iron skeletons that are remarkably difficult to kill and a star-shaped room full of ghouls and ghasts that the party dispatches in short order.

What an odd place.