A few minutes of plundering and looting is always a way to calm down after a traumatic event. There is some discussion about how to haul around 500 pounds of dwarven Digin statuary, but in the end it is decided that they’ll leave him in the medusa’s lair and toss some clothes on top of him. With plunder complete there is some talk of retreat, but in the end it is decided that perhaps a bit more exploring might be OK.
The passageway is followed by a large cavern in which sits the remains of a partially collapsed building. It looks like the doors to the ground floor are still intact and they are pried open. That gives the horned goat-demon inside an excuse to start carving the group into chunks. Oh crikey! It is one of the nutty blinking demons that almost single-hornedly destroyed the party atop the old manor house! Savage blows are dealt and the group breaks into a run, but they are too slow and it chases them and attacks from behind, looking to add Kegdrain to the extinct dwarf list. it is looking grim until Fingers stabs it with his steely knife and poisons the beast to death. Holy shit. That was close. Now it is definitely time to go.
The group retraces steps and is climbing the stairs to exit the underground when the lightning bolt fligning spider mage in the tower decides to let them know he is still home. The bolt brings several members much closer to meeting their gods than any of them is comfortable with. They flee. Unashamedly tucking tail and sprinting as fast as the legs of various lengths will carry them. They travel through the sewers at a relatively high rate of speed and when they climb out of the entrance in the ruined apartment building – there is an assassin waiting for them that tries his level best to kill each and every party member. Luckily Fingers is faster and between Sniffle’s sling stones and Fingers pointy dagger, the threat is removed.
Fingers creates an illusion to screen the group and they wait for morning to try and sneak out of Oldtown. They exit the Oldtown and are headed back to their house near the south gate when Zaal thinks he spots watchers keeping an eye on the place. They audible to the flophouse back in Delver’s square and sneak in the back. Home again. They divvy, dither and divide the loot while trying to figure out whether to abandon Digin, sell him as a lawn ornament or find a way to return him to a fleshier state. A knock on the door interrupts their musings and they are somewhat stunned to behold the face of the red mage, Celerun. He gave the group a red garnet some time ago and it appears he is back to offer a hand. Altruism is suspicious as all nine planes of hell, but the group isn’t really in a position to object too vigorously. The visitor tells them that they need to vacate the city for a few days as the hunters are out in force.
It seems that the Surgeon has placed a bounty on their heads and there are plenty of folks willing to try and collect it. A few minutes later, the group is en-route to the eastern docks and crossing the narrow sea to the elven encampment of the rental donkey…what was it called again? Oh, right. Phinothae. After a three day ride, they disembark and are greeted by Celerun. The group camps outside of town and is relieved, yet concerned when the offer of a stone to flesh slave is broached. Totally for free, absolutely no strings attached. Just out of the goodness of his patron’s heart!
Gift horses and teeth and all that..the group accepts and returns to the city. They spend time on the boat ride getting ready for trouble – but the return is uneventful. It looks like they fooled the watchers, or something else happened to divert attention. Either way, they are happy.
They return to the area near the apartments. Again, masked by invisibility spells they try and enter the place undetected. Time will tell how successful that was, but for now they are on the move. The party rolls past the metal door – now open. There aren’t any greeters, nor traps in place. They advance towards the stairs, hoping that the spider-bolting mage is gone as well.
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