Returning to the desert in search of the missing dwarven gem mine, the group is headed northward along the abandoned caravan road just beyond the goat-cheese making village, While the group plods through the desert sands, Bud and Barada scout about in bird form. Early one morning Barada spots the now familiar sight of a fez wearing figure shuffling along through the desert. “Tis Mr. Slippers! A brief debate is held about whether to fight or run, but in the end Dalliance opines that it might be better to take him on here and now as opposed to having him turn up later at a more inconvenient time.

Plans are laid: Lubbitch and Barada will soften him up with a few rounds of arrow fire...

Gathering around the golden sarcophagus, the party begins poking, prodding, prying. Lubbitch’s xray eye is brought to bear and stymied.
Finally, the ram is produced and as Reza stands ready with the Mace of Disruption, Barada and Lubbitch try to open the lid. Varying degrees of success are achieved when a crack opens along one side and it is seem that it is sheets of lead, gold and iron over stone. When the crack opens, a column of fire roars out of the ceiling, but the party members avoid most of the damage by springing aside, or standing far in the back of the party. On the heels of the fire column, a ring of blue fire encircles the sarcophagus, prompting the party to fall back and begin dithering...

The next four or so days pass while the group does a fair amount of head-scratching and investigating. It seems that all passageways have been bricked over (it is a tomb after all) and the talents of Bud Feaster are in great demand. The hobbit opens a number of doorways using Stoneshape, until Dalliance fashions a battering ram and the group whiles away the hours knocking down walls, making a hellacious amount of noise, and raising a cloud of dust. The good part about lurking out in the middle of the wilderness is that no one complains about the noise. Four of the doorways are marked with the elemental symbols. Air opens into a dank and musty room, Fire releases a cloud of methane gas – no open flames in the party supplies at the time.
Earth turns Lubbitch to stone, and Water opens a ‘pit...

In the aftermath of the Tomorast induced traumas the party gibbers a bit in abject terror, then gets down to the business of looting and scooting. Humbar is raised and healed. A few spells reveal all that is of magical nature and a few minutes of poking and prying produces some goods and Tomorast’s personal diary. An angry wall hanging tries to kill Humbar, but it is slain before too much harm can be inflicted, thanks to Dalliance’s innovative use of Gaseous Form spells. The wall hanging seems to evoke the mobile Desert City of the Invincible Overlord, but the landscape is alien and there are two suns in the sky.

Bags are filled and a brief debate is floored, with the end result that one more door will be considered and then it will be time to go.
The one more door formula yields some more...

Pressing onwards the group starts to explore a region of interconnected passages, doors and rooms. Much is the ‘standard’ dungeon experience – inexplicable twists, hidden rooms, secret passages, a cloak room with a specter that tries to eat Reza…the usual. The group finds a puddle on the floor of a hallway that reveals the vision of a large purple rock…and now everyone in the group is able to ‘feel’ it lurking in their consciousness. The group is also almost trapped in an infinite-loop hallway teleporter, but Bud’s Anti-Magic Shell allows them to exit. The group finds unlocked traps and locked traps and just plan old traps. They also find and pummel a 9-pack of hired foreign fighters. When their numbers are reduced to 4, the remainder surrender...