The hijinks continue. The group wanders near and far, hither and yon, all in the pursuit of the elusive stairs they have heard exist. A few more days exploring has them talking to the skeletal, severed torso of a halfling chained to the wall of an alcove. He tips them to the presence of a secret wizard school or something that apparently exists somewhere below this area.
They enter a large room and are attacked by a trio of manticores, which are swiftly slain. While the room is explored for secret doors and whatnot, the wizards set about preserving various monster bits for resale or trade at a later time. During the ongoing investigation of the manticore nests, the group becomes aware of a large floating eyeball observing them from the doorway. Spells both defensive and offensive are readied, but in the end it is shown to be an illusion. Strange indeed. After a bit of exploration a path is chosen that brings them into a troll ambush – well, it could have been an ambush were it not for the elven ears adorning the skull of Goldpiece. Reacting swiftly, the attacking troll is dispatched by the group. A veritable abattoir is revelated beyond, but little else to provide interest.
In another section of the apparently-quite-large warren of tunnels and rooms (but no stairs) a basilisk corpse is discovered. The magic globe it holds is looted and the party wanders onward until they encounter and slay a black pudding, and discover a collection of the basilisk’s victims stored near the rear of a large chamber. One of the petrified is a carrion crawler that holds a crown which the stoneshaping druid retrieves.
Following up on the tip provided by the dead quarterling, the group finds a powerful magic item that can slay victims by exchanging their beating heart with a withered and dessicated specimen that lies within the box. Everyone regards this discovery with a small degree of suspicion. These are dark arts indeed. Hmmm. Oh well. On they go.
Doubling back to a previously visited area, they decide to head in a new direction. All is going well until Golpiece is attacked by a pair of perfect copies of himself. He proceeds to pummel himself until he is forced to retreat via dimension door. The mage seals the hall with a wall of ice and the party retreats and prepares to do battle. Battle does not materialize. Hmm. Paranoia grows. An arcane eyeball is deployed and no sign of the offending duplicates is found. A lot of other stuff is found, so they head off in search of something resembling stairs. Leading down. Hopefully.
They reach a room that sports a large map and some directions delivered by a disembodied overhead voice when certain symbols on the map are pressed. One of the areas is known to the elves, though only through lore. Other sections are utterly baffling. Strange indeed.
Speaking of strange, also present in the room is the reanimated corpse of an adventurer. His story is that he was a cleric, slain by his thieving companions once he caught them skimming from the party treasure. He can sense the offenders and volunteers to lead the party to them so justice may be done. Justicar is all over that. But first, an overnight stay in the rope hotel is needed. By the time they party is ready to go, the revenant informs the group that two of the offenders suddenly traveled from here to a location about 25 miles distant. But, there is still one more that lingers below.
Off they go, following the corpse as it stalks the halls. Eventually they enter a large room, do battle with some bugbears, then a large force of goblins and a couple of ettins are involved. Eventually the party overcomes the horde and resumes exploration. They loot a forge for hidden treasure and battle a mimic that lures them within range.
As they advance yet further, it seems that battle is once again on the menu as they engage with another hostile force…
Leave a reply