The long trip back to the tangent from a tangent off of an offshoot…

Though the sights and sounds of the new landscape are intriguing and unknown indeed, in the end a little less unknown might not be _such_ a bad thing. And so the group resumes poling about on the vast underground lake, eventually retracing the steps that led them to the dock from which they initially departed. There, the barrels of fruitcake turpentine and the blueberry ink of forgetfulness are still in the casks – so it seems that there have been no visitors to this end of the lake.

Heartened, the group ascends the sinkhole, passes by the now decayed blob that was the beholder – takes care to pick their way through the cavern of moldy doom, traverses the dead zone and eventually return to the cavern of the minotaur king. The hyena-men are visibly disheartened at the sight of the returning group members. Perhaps they had hoped that the usurpers would perish in the vast beyond and never be seen again. Nonetheless – there they are, and respect is immediately shown to the conquerors.

The group moves back in for a few days, then goes off to lower the basket back to the forest level. they all climb in and winch themselves back up into the ‘sky’, eventually arriving at the complex with the room of liquid blackness and the scene of the battle with the sad bronze man. They ascend a shaft, sending Bud in bird form up first to scout. After some time, it is found that Bud has not returned and the group is alarmed. They ascend the shaft and find only curtains that lead into a long hallway, guarded by a leonine man with a gem in his chest and glowing orange eyes. An elephant is summoned courtesy of a mount spell and appears in the hallway. With an ear-piercing shriek, the lion man attacks – producing a ‘lightsaber’ and cleaving the elephant in twain. Alarmed, Dalliance machineguns Liono with a tripled Magic Missile spell. Once he lies dead in the hallway, the corridor is explored by Barada.

At the far end of the hall is a set of secret doors. When opened, they reveal the hindquarters of a sphinx!. Barada shuts the door and has a quick confab with the group. It seems unlikely that Bud encountered the sphinx, but there is no sign of the hobbit. It is suggested that there was some sort of magical disintegration, or he was eaten by the lion-man. In either case, the party faces a future with no Bud, and the last wish from Dalliance’s ring is used to restore the party from its Bud-less condition.

With Helm of Comprehend languages and a Tongues spell, communication with the Sphinx is established. The price for the toll is agreed upon, and then the price for a single question is set. The group learns that they have slain the bronze incarnation of Thatanos – the god of death and possibly a progenitor of Tharzidun. The group leaves the lair of the sphinx and proceeds into a large cavern through which runs a river, over which arches a bridge, upon which sits a pituitary giant gnome. The gnome is hungry and whiny. Food is summoned and the gnome begins to feast as the party crosses over the waters.

In the wall opposite the bridge is a set of ascending stairs, which become a slide after about 20 feet of upward travel. Undaunted, with Gauntlets and Rope of Climbing, the slippery slope is ascended. At the top of the once-stairs is a spear trap that almost shoots Bud’s hand off of his little arm. Desperate healing is undertaken and the group now occupies a landing. On one side is the slide downward to river level, on the other is a thick set of bronze bars that block the passage. A decision will be made…