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...

After some debate and a double helping of paranoia (just about the right amount), the group decides to pull out all the stops and prepare for an all out assault, hoping that the element of surprise will allow them to win past the superior numbers and defensible position of the enemy. With a loaded Spell Matrix and wands at the ready, the party prepares. Bud, in bird form is stuffed into a backpack. All nonessential items are ditched. Potions are quaffed and spells readied. When the signal is given, the group charges onto the long arching bridge – and triggers an Alarm spell. Alarmed, the group races forward. Once just past the apex, Dalliance announces the party’s arrival with a Rod of Fury-ed Fireball. The triple blast detonates in the middle of the ambush site with some spectacular resu...

Pressing onwards past the Drow ambush site, the group starts to wander the twisting passages of the vast underground area in which they find themselves. They are lost… They check out side passages and side-side passages and the like, gradually making their way towards the map hex marked with what certainly looks like Cthulu. Upon arrival, Barada is scouting about 90 feet ahead of the party, trying to stay stealthy and invisible. As he approaches an especially well-lichened area, he is set upon by a band of 12 rats – no make that wererats – and a pair of Mind Flayers. Subjected to two Psionic Blasts in rapid succession, Brada resists the brain-pulping and lapses into panic mode. Screaming, he runs past the rest of the party...

Once restocked and clear on purpose, the group ventures back past the decaying beholder (now part of the food chain again) to the cavern of molds. A ring of fire clears a path through the cavern and then into a tunnel array. After crossing the cavern of moldy doom, the group finds a winch and staircase that descend into a sinkhole ending sixty feet below. At the bottom of the descent are a trio of cargo nets, one of which still contains four barrels. Three contain berry scented ink (or what looks like ink) and the last contains ‘fruitcake turpentine’. Reza and Bud sample the berry drink, and while Bud is unaffected, Reza suffers a partial memory wipe following a night of intense hallucination.
Dalliance ponders the use of a Wish spell to return him to his ‘original’ self, but decides in th...

Pausing only to scoop up the handful of items and a bindle-full of Naima left behind by the Beholder’s disintegrating blast, the group hefts Reza’s corpse between Lubboch and Barada. There is some discussion about a Feaster in the rear, but eventually the party sorts out internal order and proceeds away rapidly from the scene of the confrontation. As soon as the Anti-Magic Shell winks out, the beholder’s voice echoes in the cavernous hall…Barada translates as he accepts all Lubboch’s magic arrows and a quiver of normal ones. As the evil eye drifts into range he lets fly, aided by the potion of speed. One, two arrows streak through the air and into the target, the third arrow is used to pin Lubboch’s foot to the floor and the fourth arrow slays the Death Star...