Exiting the vast underground caverns, the group rows out onto a large lake. They recognize the general area from the planeshift incident. Across the lake lies a troll community, crude huts ringed by a palisade. To the northwest is a large stone structure with battlements that overlooks the lake. Trolls or towers? Hm. Send out the mage!
The mage scouts the area and reports. The towers look uninhabited – the courtyard full of weeds, sacks of moldering grain, a half-sunken rowboat tied up to the dock. Underwater scouting reveals that the lake level has risen sometime in the past and a section of the outermost tower wall is submerged at this point. The group decides to investigate the towers and then press on to the frog temple that they saw a week or two earlier.
They land the boats and begin investigating the main courtyard. They move through an entry door and into the building interior. A few things become apparent. First, this is some sort of cloister or monastery as there are few signs of troops or guards. Secondly, some sort of mayhem took place here in the not-too-distant past. There are destroyed doors and shredded corpses. The air here is cold and relatively dry – lake presence notwithstanding – so the decay is not too advanced.
Questions are raised and the mage asks them of one of the corpses. The deceased is not terribly forthcoming but does reveal that the air sprouted claws and shredded him.
Keeping this in mind, the group presses on in reconnoiter and loot mode. They open various doors and poke about. One door leads to a section of the battlements…one door leads to the roof of a tower that overlooks the lake. The day is beautiful, but cold. The group pauses for a moment to admire the view, when Kingsley is hurled off the side of the tower and plunges into the lake below. Startled, the group is uncertain what is happening and the mage is shredded to within an inch of his life. As he doffs a potion of gaseous form, the elf strips off most of his gear and dives into the lake to save the paladin. Soon thereafter, the Lad goes swimming as well.
The Gal seizes the gem of seeing and describes the attackers as ‘four-armed solid air’. While the mage wafts over the side and the elf dives, the cleric and paladin grab the elf’s belongings and prepare to exit the place. As they descend downstairs, the paladin is tripped and the elf’s belongings go flying. The paladin and cleric win through to the battlements and fight a defensive action. As long as they aren’t in danger of being dumped over the battlements, they are able to hold their own and obtain a bit of breathing room. A rope of climbing is deployed and they make their way to water level. The cleric walks on water and the group manages to piece together a rescue which results in no lost lives.
Back into the building to recapture the elf’s possessions and the creatures swarm them. This time the results are more favorable to the party and they drive the monsters off. Quickly they descend though a staircase they found earlier and find themselves in a series of catacombs lined with coffins.
This launches several days worth of exploration as various passages, stairs and rooms are encountered and investigated.
Little of consequence is discovered, though a fire trap is found that blocks a secret door. It is overcome and the moldy hall beyond is not so scary. One branch of hallway leads to a strange temple/altar to some bloated frog god (the temple?) which is guarded by a warty defender who leaps into their midst and smashed with a knobby staff. As it battles, it croaks and reinforcements arrive on the scene. The mage promptly fries them with a lightning bolt and the group starts to gain the upper hand on the lone defender when it activates the staff. Beams of brilliant light shoot out of the knobs of the staff and deal serious damage to all that are hit, including the staff wielder, who expires. When the elf picks up the staff, he loses attribute points permanently – much to his dismay. The staff is placed in the portable disposal closet and the rope removed. That should ensure it does nt fall into the wrong hands.
The place is evil, no doubt. Investigation leads to a grating covered well surrounded by block and tackle winches. The far end of the room has an inscription across the top of the door, indicating “this is the way to the dungeon of graves”. The grating covers some sort of deep well filled with a slime or ooze of some sort. The party sees little profit and moves on.
Backtracking, the party goes down, up and then down again as they link areas together on their mental map. They reenter catacombs teeming with coffins and eventually reach some sort of storeroom that is guarded by gargoyles. After the slaughter, there is some searching and looting and then they are back to adventuring.
They reach a hallway filled with swords hanging from the ceiling. Taking precautions, they pass into a room filled with swords and divided by a wrought-iron grating and gate. Beyond is a beam of light that illuminates the back of a large chair or throne. The gate is flanked by a pair of glowing globes and the party moves their unseen servant into position to try the gate. Some magic is used the the servant manages to open the gate. With that, the chair rotates to reveal a large and ornate coffin which promptly bursts open. As the dust and debris around the coffin forms into a small army of zombies and skeletons, a glowing armored figure rises up out of the coffin and begins floating across the room towards the party. In his hand he carries a black blade with indistinct edge. A hasty ice storm from the mage deals with most of the minor undead, but the rapidly approaching creature radiates intense evil. Strong magics are deployed, with limited success and the cleric manages to turn the creature to buy some breathing room for the party, who beats feet in retreat. They fall back quite a way and spend a couple days identifying items and planning for a return to the lair of evil.
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