Drifting along on the waterway, the group navigates a small set of rapids before entering an enormous cavern that is heavily enchanted to resemble the outdoors. A breeze blows, carrying with it the scent of the forests that stretch into the distance. Though the sky seems real enough, the discerning eyes of the wizards reveal that the ceiling is only 50 to 60 feet overhead. Most puissant magics indeed!
The boat passes along a heavily wooded shore, where elvish archers stand on guard stop towers that run parallel to the river’s passage. The party’s boat slides under a bridge atop which sits a green dragon – with a sword protruding from its skull. Despite the sword, the dragon seems to be quite alive. The group floats on, but once they have just about left the woodlands behind, they deploy one of the mage’s eyes and spend some time scouting the area. A lot of old growth forest, interpreted with treants, giant insects and a seemingly normal assortment of woodland beasties. There is some more discussion and eventually they decide that it would be interesting to make contact, since the elves seen non-hostile so far..
They reverse course and put ashore under the watchful eyes of the tower guards and are promptly greeted by a sentient tree who leads them to the lady of the forest. She meets with the party and offers them a tasty meal and a tale., They larn of how she came to be here and what concerns her. The group will rid her of some troublesome monsters and she will direct them to a safe passage to the next level below – a passage that does not take them and their boat over the endless falls. The deal is struck and the party sets off.
They enter a series of caves and fight and slay a strange creature that resembles a flying bedsheet equipped with a toothy maw and vampire fangs. They prove quite tough, but in the end the group triumphs. They return to the lady of the woods and she thanks them and sends them on their way.
They enter the tunnels below and set about exploring the area through the arcane eye. The eye reveals a lot of doors and hallways, and the fact that they are not alone. In one room, a small party of druergar explore some carvings while a pair of hungry xorn stand watch. Once the eye expires, the intrepid adventurers set forth to investigate. They find and slay a different xorn and investigate many chambers and hallways – including a ransacked museum – before deploying the rope and settling in for the night.
The following ‘day’ they resume investigation and almost immediately find a large room guarded by a pair of invisible stalkers. The invisibility of the stalkers is no match for the wizard’s enhanced vision and Malchor decides to slay them with a hefty lightning bolt.
This serves only to anger them and they attack Malchor. He is slain in the following melee and a trip to a secure place via the Staff of Security is necessitated. They rest, repair and regroup and then set forth again. Further exploration leads them to a large cavern dedicated to one of the chief gods of the dwarven pantheon. The room is also occupied by a large contingent of druergar and a few of the flying angry bedsheets. They two groups parlay – then bargain. The druergar want to get behind the massive doors at the end of the hall, but the way s guarded by a golem of some sort, against which their weapons are useless. They offer to provide sage passage to the next level as well as split the chamber contents 60 – 40 if the party will clear the way.
Some head scratching and ruzza-ruzzing ensues and after some time it is discovered that the doors will not open unless the king’s hand is used. Thus, the mission changes to grave-robbing. The path to the lower level is revealed and the group begins investigating nearby areas, finding sections of a jade staff hidden behind an illusory wall. They return to the room holding a giant stone organ and resume investigating…
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