Rested and refreshed, the group re-emerges from behind (another) wall of stone and plans the assault upon the giant stronghold. Ti’Karu creates an illusionary army of kobolds and the group trails behind them invisibly, relying on his ability to detect illusions to prevent their swift descent into the pit. WHen the group is close, Demming releases a bombardment of boulders to smash into the tower and the rest of the group ‘charges’. Ti’Karu and Bud and Ron’j! form one trio while Dalliance and Barada trail a bit further behind.
Group one plunges through a pit and would die an untimely death but for Dalliance’s swift Feather Fall spell – which saves them from the ground, but plants them amidst the spectres. The spectres drain 6 levels before they are vanquished and the members are hauled out again. It turns out that the gatehouse is left unmanned. Indeed the entire area seems uninhabited.
The group explores and find a hallway guarded by a pair of animated stone carvings. One is disintegrated and the other reduced to mud but the plucky hobbit is bruised. Beyond the guardians is an incredibly deceiving illusion of a gateway – so convincing that Barada is ensnared in the enchantment and thinks he has passed through. Freed from the trap by the rest of the party Barada regains his senses and the group investigates what lies beyond the gatehouse in another direction. There, they discover what could be a temple to Llolth, the goddess of the Drow, as well as a couple of rooms that could belong to priestly types. The lure of loot is outweighed by dread of Drow and the group bypasses the entire series of chambers.
They retrace their steps to home base, then set out along a different path. They travel a long hallway and trigger various traps before arriving at an intersection that promises to lead into an ever widening warren of passages and chambers. They turn to Bud’s Fork of Travel and it determines they should head the way they came. Spiraling around, they re-encounter the door to nowhere. IN the face of a dwindling array of options, they decide to open it. A shimmering curtain of grey faces them, and with a minimum of discussion they plunge through it on the basis of ‘once you are lost, you can’t get any more lost’. Miraculously – they emerge upon a set of stairs that they quickly find n the map fragments they have produced along the way. A quick jog back to the entrance – a call for the elevator – and the group is back up top and ready for a night on the town in Waterdeep. Then – the inevitable question…where to next?
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