As the vision passes, the party is assaulted by the bone naga! The party rallies and within a matter of seconds, the threat is removed. There is a bit more investigation and they return to the cavern where the ‘god’ spoke to them. Inexplicably uninterested in poking the bear, they retreat and decide to avoid combat with gods, frogs, naga and drow in favor of descending to the next level, hoping to gain access to the school of wizardry they expect to find below.
Descending the stairs, they are met by The Headmaster, who gives the mages quite the sales pitch and implies that any who care to study are free to join the school, but until they do so they are not permitted to roam the halls.
There is an offer of safe passage on the table, if the group will be so kind as to remove a particularly annoying bone devil from one of the suites of rooms occupied by a former student. There is a significant amount of suspicion on the party’s part, but eventually they accept the offer and head through the hallways to do the deed. Along the way the mages have more than a little paranoia as they are being scrutinized by any and all of the students of the school – and some of them do not look particularly friendly.
Arriving in place, Goldpiece is magically enhanced as much as possible, then knocks his arrow of devil slaying. He enters the rooms, spies the devil and takes the shot. The devil is slain and a minute or two later, the group is escorted to the top of a staircase and bid farewell. They are cautioned that any attempt to return by these same stars will be seen as an attack on the school and dealt with accordingly. Onwards and downwards!
Arriving below, they poke about for a bit and find a secret door. Beyond lies a hall lined with broken mirrors and a one-armed skeleton clad in a tattered robe that waves a wand at them menacingly until Goldpiece pokes it with a Mace of Disruption. .A bit more investigation and the discovery of a public address system that is broadcasting messages of support for various drow houses. They push through another door to find a necroalchemist’s room and are attacked by a ghoul pack. Justicar destroys some of them with a word and a strongly presented holy symbol and Goldpiece does in the rest before making note of another of the strange gates mounted to the wall. The mages are certain that they know where the matching gate is located, but there is still little enthusiasm for stepping through. With that, the group reverses course.
They enter a large hall dominated by two statues of Lloth – the drow demon queen – and the sound of keening and wailing fills the air. Suddenly, the party is separated by a wall of force that cuts off Justicar and Goldpiece from the rest of the group. Then they are attacked! Malchor hurriedly disintegrates the wall and the rest of the adventuring band joins in the fray. Fireballs and lightning bolts are traded and savage blows are struck. The druid manages to illuminate their invisible enemy with a faerie fire that helps turn the tide of battle. Alas, the plucky druid travels too far into the room and is slain by a banshee’s wail. Goldpiece is stuck dead with a single savage blow to the face and the scorpion-centaur assaults Elulyn and nearly slays him outright. Magic missiles cast at the creature are reflected back to the casters and it is looking quite grim indeed. Goldpiece is recalled from the land of the dead by Justicar and pressed back into service. He manages to slay the creature, but the party is shaken, not stirred.
The druid is slain and missing and the idea is advanced that perhaps – just perhaps – it would be a great idea to GTFO and scoot from this place. They use a wish from the magic blade to return all the bodies to the Tormite Mound, where healing and restoration can occur. They reflect on their journey to the manor house and all that transpired after that in the months that followed. They take their wares and head to Suzail to try and liquidate as much of the inventory as possible over the next six to eight months. As they do so, there is a period of reflection and a fair amount of pondering about the path they will travel next.
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