They follow the tunnel, noting that it has been clawed through stone and soil. It is six feet wide and about twice as tall, pointing to a creature of some size having churned through the earth to make a passage that stretches eastward, under Oldtown and towards the Spire. At one point, the passage splits but the group continues straight ahead. The passage splits again – and the group presses onward. Eventually they find themselves in a dead end, so they set about looking for hidden areas…but none are found.
While they search, noises tell of another group coming up behind them, but they head down the nearest side passage and are lost from sight. The dwarves tell of a lamia, a minotaur and a pack of goblins so the decision is made to tail them and attack with surprise, which they do. Although successful, the attack sees several party members losing valuable wisdom due to the stupefying attacks of the lamia. Once they are slain, the party sets about exploring this complex made of worked stone. Clearly the tunnel beast was set loose to find this location.
Further investigation sees them stealing a malignant crystal, destroying some sort of damaged golem, finding a half-constructed tower made of sigil-covered brass plates and encountering a paladin who detects their evilness and attacks them before being slain. They also encounter some sort of icy troll-like apparition that dancers back and forth from this plane to another while it launches hit and run attacks. Each time it flees when the party damages it, but they are on edge and are determined not to sleep in this locale.
They poke and pry into corners and crevices, finding a whole lot of not much. Well, except for a door that has four corpses sprawled out in front of it. Zaal’s robe of eyes sees through the invisibility spell cloaking the small keyhole near the floor and soon the Allkey is brought to bear on the situation. This results in a combination lock being revealed and it is at this point that the group is mystified. Some ideas are tossed about, but they decide to retreat to the basement of the manor house to rest.
They are attacked once more by the ethereal troll and are alerted to the approach of a large group that comes clomping down the stairs into the wine cellar. While they are nicely bunched up on the staircase, Zaal lets fly with a lightning bolt which dramatically tips the odds in favor of the ambushers and they soon are strippingthe bodies of the fallen of anything magical before they depart in haste to their manor house.
Things have been busy at their abode, and the contingent of troops from the Inverted Pyramid tell of two separate groups that launched attacks on the dwelling. Both times they failed, but they managed to create casualties in the occupying force. Bayga ruminates on the idea that the Surgeon and parties unknown are actively trying to end their lives…but being incognito is now impossible since they are hailed as saviors of the city. Sometimes the limelight is more of a target on your back then any help. They spend a day sifting loot then try to find their contact.
A trip to the Ghostly Minstrel proves fruitless at first, but a return finds them in contact with the ruby-armed mage. She asks them to return and see if there is anything else they can discover – emphasizing that time is of the essence if they are to succeed.
So it is that the group returns to the tunnels under Oldtown and this time they take the untraveled tunnel. They discover a network of caves, some traps, an attack by an Umber Hulk – possibly the tunneler in question – and a lair in which they locate the tattered remnants of a journal which implicate a family the city as having the necessary key to open the hitherto unopenable door. Some quick planning is in order and they use the butler to their advantage to give them the background on the family in question.
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