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...

Departing the manor house and wondering about whether or not to install some permanent staff in the place on the off chance they should return to the locale on a regular basis. the group turns its attention to the nearby city of Yulach. Currently, the city is largely destroyed, with a large contingent of Red Plumes from HIlsfar occupying the southeastern edge of the city and an armed camp of Zhentarim regulars guarding the road leading out of the city to the north. Aerial reconnaissance reveals that trade still exists, but that all wagons headed north are stopped by guard from each faction.Furthermore, it seems that there are independent operators roaming the ruins, or perhaps they are mercenaries working for one (or both) sides.

The decision is made to scout quietly and see what informat...

After looking over the maps of the area and getting a generic overview of the region’s history, Malchor tries to teleport the party to the edge of the Moonsea. In this he is successful. However, this particular edge does not seem to contain the manor house to which they have the deed, so after a bit of sightseeing, they teleport again.

That seems to have done the trick, for now they are on a gentle slope, some 2 miles from a manor house, complete with an untended vineyard, and a fair number of heavily armored types lounging about, watching a quartet to sweating, shackled laborers drag stones out of a nearby field into a rough wall. The latter details are revealed when the mages and druid do an avian reconnaissance mission.

Going for the gusto, the group walks into hailing range and announ...

The statue battle is pitched, but the slow speed of the statuary allows the group to subdivide them using walls of force, so they can be dealt with in relative ease. While Gutboy acts as bait, the rest of the party pummels them with various missile weapons and spell effects, until they are reduced to rubble.

The well opening unlocks, the lid is pushed aside – and after a return to the outside to try and recoup a bit – the group scouts the entrance to the next level. A set of whirling death blades proves troublesome, but eventually the central spindle is stoneshaped and the cuisinart of death is jammed. A large room with unlit braziers, and a statue of a crouching tiger is all that seems to be therin. A wide hallway set with slab-doors is dominated by a large carving of a scarab...

The party preps by laying a slab of ice across a likely place where a trap awaits. They shuffle forward and are unsurprised when the statues try to push them into the ice-topped pit. Beyond the door – which opens easily to the golden key – lies a long hallway lined with more blocked doorways. Taking the path of least resistance leads the group to a large room with a dlab-topped well in the center, similar to that discovered in the first room they entered. A quartet of headless statues rings the place…hey wait!

“Didn’t we see some huge statue heads laying around in various rooms?” “Why, yes we did!” So they’re off! They retrace their steps through the ancient corridors and collect a couple of heads from places visited earlier...